Yellow Rose of Texas
by DontWannaBeAClue
Summary: Set vaguely after S5 Ep 17 Might turn into a series. Case of a dead body found in a hotel room with a possible second victim Will have a romantic pairing but can't spoil it here Given the show, might be graphic to some, especially the forensic side of things Will definitely contain STRONG language, possibly other uncomfortable themes
1. Chapter 1

It was to the sound of a very shrill sounding voice screaming, "You stupid bitch! How could you?!" That forced her out of her slumber. She couldn't be sure if the pounding in her head was caused by the sound of fists hitting the bathroom door or if it was something else, but she regretted opening her eyes in the brightly lit bathroom all the same. She had a headache that rivaled any she had felt in her relatively short life and her throat was so parched that she barely made a sound when she first attempted to reply to her accuser.

Once her eyes were closed again she was finally able to try to think straight. OR at least she was able to try to think at all. The pain in her head was quite severe and her muscles were starting up their own protests from her having spent the night on the hard bathroom floor. At least she assumed she had spent the night there since that was where she had woken up.

It took a great deal of effort and fumbling around for her to find the light switches so that she could turn off the majority of the lights which she hoped would allow her to open her eyes. Once that was successfully accomplished, she moved over to the sink to get a glass of water to try to ease the pain in her throat and the unnaturally dry feeling in her mouth. As she filled the glass she let her eyes wander up to the mirror and the sight that she encountered in the reflection caused her to drop the glass into the sink in utter disbelief.

 _What the hell...?_ She thought to herself. (Because she still wasn't able to speak, even if it was just to whisper to herself.)

Her eyes were puffy and red under her smeared dark sapphire blue, glitter eye shadow and dark streaks of waterlogged black mascara. Her blood red lipstick was somehow still present, only now it was in spots on her chin and cheeks instead of on her lips. Miraculously, her hair was still sporting the artificial spirals that she had created with hot rollers the night before, only now they were no longer arranged in a neat pile atop her head that cascaded over one shoulder like a golden waterfall. No, now they looked like a nest formed by some sort of pest and made her look like a deranged woman who wasn't able to properly care for herself.

She tentatively raised her hand to probe the puffiness around her left eye with her right index finger and was startled to find that there was more to the swelling than the usual feelings she associated with a night of crying herself to sleep. If she didn't know any better she would say that under the layers of messed up makeup that she had a black eye blossoming. But that was impossible because she hadn't gotten into a fight with anyone, had she?

 _Don't make a sound... I WILL kill you... Stupid blonde bitch..._ A sinister sounding voice that she didn't recognize echoed in the back of her mind as she continued to stare at her reflection.

She knew that there was something that had happened the night before that she should remember. It had to be the reason that she woke up on the bathroom floor feeling like a dead rodent that a cat had dragged up a flight of stairs into the house.

 _Why did I drink so much last night?_ She mentally questioned herself forlornly as she tried to fill the glass with now icy cold water from the tap.

If there had been any moisture in her mouth she probably would have been salivating at the sight of the water because she was craving it so much now. As she raised the glass to her lips she actually closed her eyes in anticipation of the liquid soothing her parched mouth and throat.

At least that had been her fantasy. Her reality was much less pleasurable. As the liquid passed over her tongue en route down her throat, she was met with a very unpleasant sensation of her throat nearly convulsing at her attempts to swallow down the water that now felt like tiny pieces of ice or glass in her throat. On top of that , the dull ache that she had been feeling throughout her body since the moment that she had opened her swollen eyes had magnified to feel at least ten times worse now that she had been moving around. Or maybe it was because she had been able to look at her battered body so her mind had become conscious to the fact that it should be feeling pain. Somehow she was able to ignore all of the pain radiating through her body and forced the liquid down, but once it was gone she gasped in a breath of surprise at the pain that continued to throb in her abused throat.

 _Seriously? What the hell happened?_ She thought to herself as she carefully placed the still full glass on the countertop.

With both of her hands now free she was able to move her hair and the collar of her plush white terry cloth robe so that she could try to examine her throat. _Robe? I didn't..._ She shook her head to force herself to cease that train of thought and she instantly regretted that because it made her headache throb painfully a with each action. _One problem at a time. That's the only way you'll figure this out._

Her eyes quickly moved from the robe to her reflection to comply with her brain's wishes to see what might be wrong with her throat. She gasped in another painful breath when her gaze focused in on the red marks on the front of her neck that promised to transform into bruises in the near future. Her hands suddenly appeared at her throat to mimic the hold that would have created such marks. That action seemed to act as a trigger because she was hit with a violent flood of images as her memories of the night before came back to her in one big, jumbled rush.

She stumbled back a couple of steps and had to use the wall to help her to keep upright. Her next breath came out as a sob and fresh moisture started to trickle down her cheeks and drip off her chin. She was more than prepared to allow herself to succumb to her tears once again, but a loud knock at the door froze her in her place.

There was something different about this knocking than that of the woman's that had awoken her. Hers had sounded frantic and erratic. This sounded purposeful and authoritative. Then she heard the voice that belonged to the new knocking and it all started to make some sense to her.

After a couple more solid hits with their fist on the wood of the door, she heard a male's voice call out, "Miss, this is the Las Vegas police. Come out of the bathroom slowly with your hands empty and visible."

Her brain told her to move quickly and comply immediately, but her body protested any quick movements that she tried to make. Then a crippling fear threatened to overtake her because she knew that something truly terrible had to have happened for the police to be there and be giving her such orders. She was starting to remember the horrors that had caused her to lock herself away in the bathroom, but she was sure that no one else was aware of those events so there was no way that the police could be there because of them.

"Miss! If you don't come out now, we will use force to open the door!" The same man's voice warned in a tone that sounded like he was not to be trifled with and yet it he still managed to keep his tone devoid of any heat or anger.

"Coming!" She finally croaked out as loud as her damaged vocal cords would allow.

She then forced her throbbing legs to move despite their continuous protests. Once she reached the door she realized that her robe was so oversized that her hands would be hidden no matter how hard she tried to keep the sleeves rolled back. The best solution she could come up with was to take it off completely to avoid any misunderstandings. But first she unlocked the door in the hopes that the officer would hear the click and know that she was trying her best to follow his orders in a timely manner.

As she slipped the plush fabric off her body she let out a sigh of relief that she was wearing clothes underneath of it, skimpy as they may be. She couldn't recall undressing, but then again she didn't really have much of a recollection of any of what had happened once she and her roommate had made it to the dance floor at a club. She knew it was probably the alcohol that she had consumed that impaired the majority of her memories because there was no way that anyone could have convinced her to dance in front of that many people without first loosening her up with some strong, spirited drinks.

As she stepped out of the pool of terry cloth material, she noticed that the door was starting to open. She then moved to take a step towards it, but froze when she saw the muzzle of a handgun enter the room before the arms and body of the officer who was holding it.

Her instincts then kicked in and she raised her hands above her head and croaked out, "I'm unarmed."

His eyes widened unconsciously when she came into view, but he recovered quickly to reply, "I can see that. Now, very slowly follow me out of the room."

"Yes, sir," she forced out with a little more volume than her throat wanted her to use.

He carefully stepped backwards out of the room so that he didn't have to take his eyes or gun off of her. She kept her hands well above her head, which caused her top to lift up and expose her mid-section. She hoped that by baring more of her flesh that he would believe that she wasn't trying to conceal a weapon and that they could get through whatever was happening right now that much more quickly.

Once she was out of the bathroom, her eyes did a quick sweep of the bedroom she had claimed in the large two bedroom suite where she and her friend were staying for the weekend. The room looked much smaller now that it was filled with men and women wearing uniforms and plain clothes with stark black vests. It took her brain a couple of seconds to compute that she was looking at uniformed police officers and members of the local Crime Scene Investigation Unit. Once that fact became clear to her, she tried to think of what crime her roommate may have reported that would have brought them all here so quickly and in such great numbers.

Her eyes continued to move from face to face as she stepped closer to the muzzle of the firearm that was still being pointed at her chest. The officer was still moving on a path that lead to the opened door to her room, so she continued to follow him without hesitation. When her eyes briefly connected with any of the people remaining in her bedroom, they quickly diverted their gaze. After she noticed that a couple of them had pink coloring blossoming on their cheeks, she realized what might be causing it. She had on a dark blue, sequined tube top that was actually a size smaller than she would normally wear because it was borrowed. Due to that last fact she wasn't wearing a bra because she hadn't brought one that could work with that article of clothing, mostly because she didn't own one. That meant that her ample bosom threatened to spill out of the tight material with every step that she took. If that wasn't bad enough, she was also wearing a denim skirt that could be considered obscenely short. It fit her curves quite nicely because unlike the top, it actually did belong to her. When she had bought it, it fell to a much more respectable length, to her knees, but after an afternoon with her tailor shears and years of fraying away during use and washes, it was barely long enough to cover her firm, rounded bottom, And just like her shirt, each step that she took threatened to expose parts of herself that she really didn't want to put on public display.

Thankfully once she was out of the bedroom and in the main living room area she heard the officer say, "Okay that's far enough. Take a step to your left and press your back to the wall." Once she had done what he had instructed, he added, "Alright... lower your arms... slowly. Good. Now, press your palms against the wall... Good. Okay, so..."

"It was her! She did this to him!" The same shrill voice that had awoken her called out over the rest of the officer's statement. "Why aren't you arresting her?! She killed him!"

The officer quickly whipped around to face her accuser as he shouted, "Deputy! Get her out of here! I told you to keep her in that room!"

"Sorry Detective, she just slipped past me," the contrite female officer replied as she pulled the still seething woman back into the other bedroom in the suite. "It won't happen again."

"See to it that it doesn't."

He then turned back to the woman he had led out of the bathroom and his face started to soften ever so slightly, but it looked like it was in a forced way. Her eyes were unnaturally wide and he knew why. Her gaze had finally landed on the reason why he and his colleagues had swarmed this luxurious hotel suite. On the floor just a few feet from where they were standing was a man laying on the ground with his lower body partially hidden by the large coffee table in the center of the room. At first glance one might erroneously assume that he was asleep, but it wouldn't take long for anyone to realize their mistake. Instead of looking peaceful while slumbering, his eyes were wide open and his mouth was opened as if he was in the middle of a silent scream. There was a small trickle of blood that had dried in a trial down his nose from a small cut between his eyes, but it didn't look severe enough to be his cause of death.

Her eyes remained fixed on the corpse until her sight line was filled by a male's chest dressed in a dark, charcoal grey blazer with a prominent gold colored, star shaped badge affixed to his left breast pocket. Her eyes moved from the badge up to his dark brown eyes as he gave her a small, professional looking smile.

Now that he was certain that he had regained her full attention, he pulled out a familiar looking notebook and pen as he said, "My name is Detective Cavaliere. Are you...?" He paused to consult the notes that he had taken during a previous interview. "Are you Nicolette Radisson?"

She wasn't sure that her voice would work, so she nodded her head vigorously as she managed to answer in a still very hoarse sounding tone, "Yes sir, I am."

"And are you the friend who is listed as an occupant of this suite by the registered guest, Athena Ericksen?"

"Yes, sir."

He jotted some notes down and then turned to look over his shoulder and nodded at someone that she couldn't see. When he turned back to look at her, his facial features were looking much less comforting than they had a moment before.

"Miss Radisson, I am detaining you as a person of interest in the death of Lawrence 'Lucky' Rivero."

He gave Nicolette a few seconds to let his words sink in. He wasn't at all surprised, or concerned, that his statement elicited nothing more than a thoroughly confused frown because that was the usual reaction he received from his suspects when they were first confronted, whether they were guilty or not.

"As such, I am going to have a female officer search you for any weapons or prohibited items. Do you understand what that means Miss Radisson?"

She was still mentally playing catch up with his words, but she still answered, "Yes, sir."

Detective Cavaliere nodded and then took a couple of steps back. His spot was then quickly occupied by a female dressed in a light brown uniform shirt with dark brown accents and dark brown pants. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun which made her facial features appear to be more angular and severe than they would be when she wasn't on duty.

There was no smile or any warmth on her face as she instructed, "Turn around and face the wall." She waited until Nicolette had completed that task before adding, "Place your hands above your head and spread your feet to about a shoulder width apart."

Nicolette had already started to 'assume the position' even before she had those orders barked out at her. Her head was still pounding with the headache that had accompanied her rude awakening so she wasn't quite able to think straight. Had her mind been clear, she probably would have been grateful that she had taken off her cowboy boots at the main door to the suite the night before and that her friend had convinced her to wear such a revealing (also known as 'skimpy') outfit because it should help the search to be completed that much more quickly since she really didn't have anywhere on her body to hide anything dangerous.

She jumped slightly when she heard the snap of a latex glove against the skin of the officer's wrist, but she didn't move out of her position. Nicolette knew what to expect next, but having the search being done while she was actually being detained in connection with a potential homicide made her feel kind of queasy. Usually she was on the other side of the equation observing the officer of the law, so she was having a hard time digesting her current predicament. But she didn't want anyone in the room to know how nervous she was, so she forced herself to keep her breathing as even as possible.

"Do you have any weapons on your person? Or anything sharp that might puncture my gloves?" The officer asked as she stepped closer to Nicolette's back.

Nicolette shook her head and quietly replied, "No Ma'am, I don't carry anything like that."

"Okay, good. Now, don't move unless I instruct you to do so."

Although her statement didn't sound at all like a question or that she required any verification that Nicolette had understood her instructions, the younger woman still responded with a very quiet, "Yes, Ma'am."

The foreign texture of the latex gloves traveling up the bare skin of her legs nearly caused Nicolette to once again jump in her spot, but she managed to force herself to remain in her place. Just as she predicted, the search was concluded fairly quickly. The officer's hands had hesitated slightly at the hem of her skirt and again at her shoulders but she didn't speak at all to the detainee. Nicolette's resolve to remain silent actually did break when the officer's hands plunged into her blonde curls and she whimpered out a couple of soft noises of distress.

"Sorry," the officer quietly apologized she tried to comb her fingers through the knotted mess that was Nicolette's hair.

She wanted to tell the officer that it was alright, but Nicolette remained silent. She bit her bottom lip to muffle the noises she was making and to stifle the sob that was creeping up her damaged throat. She was sure that if anyone tried to get her to speak that she would end up in uncontrollable sobs right then.

Nicolette remained so focused on keeping herself as calm as possibly could that she didn't notice that the officer had completed her search and had moved away. She also wasn't aware of the exchange that happened between the Constable and the Detective behind her back.

"Alright Miss Radisson, you may turn around. Please don't move away from the wall, "Detective Cavaliere instructed in a more compassion filled town, he gestured to a woman who was standing beside him and then said, "This is Catherine Willows. She's with the crime lab and she has a couple of questions for you."

Nicolette turned only her eyes to look at the very attractive, strawberry blonde haired woman. She was dressed in a very stylish navy pant suit with an emerald green blouse. Nicolette couldn't help but to think that Catherine was too pretty to work in such a grisly job. She guessed that the CSI was likely closer to being her parents age than her own, but Nicolette still thought that Catherine's looks were better suited to being a model or a showgirl and not working crime scenes filled with any number of nightmare inducing horrors.

"Hi Nicolette, I'm Catherine," the CSI said in a placating tone as she stepped towards the frightened looking suspect. "Constable Martinez noted a couple of areas of concern. Are you alright with answering a few questions for me? We can step into another room if you would prefer some privacy."

Nicolette shook her head as she timidly replied, "No, it's... it'll... I mean, you can..."

Catherine could tell that their suspect was trying to put on a brave face, but she wasn't quite managing it. Even before Nicolette's bottom lip started to quiver, Catherine was shushing her into silence. She had been working with most of the Law Enforcement Officers for a while now, so she didn't have any concerns about their level of professionalism, but she was still prepared to move the now distraught looking woman out of the room with the primary crime scene if she thought that it would help to calm her and to question her.

Catherine kept her tone low and caring as she said, "She pointed out the bruising on your neck. Do they make it hard for you to speak?"

"Y-yes, Ma'am."

"Alright. Normally we need to have verbal answers, but if you are finding that it is hurting you too much to respond, you can just nod or shake your head for any of my 'yes/no' questions, okay?'

Nicolette gave her a tentative smile and simply nodded in response. That earned her a fairly warm smile from the CSI which helped to calm her down even more.

"Do you remember how you got your bruises?"

"Sort of," Nicolette whispered as her eyes moved to the deceased male on the floor behind Catherine.

Catherine turned to follow Nicolette's gaze and she didn't attempt to hide her surprise as she asked, "He did that to your neck and wrists?"

With a shallow nod Nicolette replied, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Okay," Catherine said more to herself than to the potential suspect. She seemed to catch herself as her mind started to wander. She shook her head and then refocused on Nicolette's face as she said, "I need to take some pictures of your injuries. Can you turn and face the wall again?" Nicolette did as she was asked and then after feeling a gloved hand brush her hair out of the way and hearing a couple of clicks from the camera's shutter she heard, "Alright, please turn back around to face me. Good... Okay, can you lift your chin up a little bit? Just a little more... that's good. Hold it right there for me, Nicolette... Alright that's great, you can lower your chin now."

Nicolette had closed her eyes to help her to focus on her breathing so that she wouldn't give in to her overwhelming desire to burst into tears. She was worried that if she started to cry that it would turn into uncontrollable sobs which would be counterproductive to assisting the officers in front of her. But she couldn't help but to feel completely despondent because this was not what their weekend was supposed to be about. This weekend was supposed to be for letting her hair down and relaxing before the weeks that were akin to being in Hell because of all of her exams. Instead it had become another version of Hell for her and she was going to have to break promises that she had made to herself long before she moved into this State.

When she opened her eyes, she startled in her place because the CSI had stepped so closely to her that she could now smell the floral scent of her shampoo. Catherine's eyes were filled with so much concern that she knew many of the officers in the room would think that hit bordered on being unprofessional, but she didn't care. The woman in front of her was looking less and less like a suspect and more and more like a victim, so that was how she was inclined to start to treat her.

"Do the bruises on your neck and wrists have anything to do with the reason why you aren't wearing any underwear?" Catherine asked so quietly that she was sure only the Detective who was notes about their conversation would be able to overhear her.

Once again Nicolette closed her eyes to try to keep her emotions in check. Her bottom lip started to quiver quite vigorously, so she but down hard on it while she moved her head up and down rapidly. After a couple of seconds, she opened her eyes while still nodding because she did want to try to give a verbal reply.

As soon as the victim had her eyes open, Catherine could see the tears forming at the edges of her eyes, so she placed a gentle hand on her upper arm and silenced her by saying, "Shh, it's alright Nicolette. You don't have to say anything, I understand."

The CSI then gave her a soft smile before she turned and walked over to Detective Cavaliere's side. She once again kept her voice so low that no one but the person she was addressing would be able to hear her when she said, "There is some very obvious evidence of sexual activity on her inner thighs and given the bruising on her neck and wrists I'm inclined to believe that it wasn't consensual. I'd like to take her to the hospital to be check out, examined and medically cleared before we question her about the circumstances surrounding his death."

"Well if she was sexually assaulted, that could definitely point us in the direction of a motive for her killing him."

His eyes were still on his notebook, so Detective Cavaliere missed Catherine rolling her eyes as she replied, "How about we gather all of the evidence before we condemn her to death row?"

That comment earned her some very direct eye contact, but Catherine raised her hand to keep him silent so that she could add in a more civil tone, "Was she wearing anything else when you found her in the bathroom?"

Cavaliere forced himself not to glare at her as he answered, "I'm pretty sure that she took off the robe that's on the floor in there but I can't confirm that."

"Okay," Catherine stated as she walked back to stand by the woman who still looked like she was doing everything she could to keep from crying. She softened her features and kept her voice as comforting as possible when she asked, "Nicolette? Did you take off the robe that is on the floor in the bathroom?"

"Yes, Ma'am," she answered in the same painful sounding whisper. "Needed to show my hands were empty."

"That makes sense. Were you wearing anything else?"

"No, Ma'am. I just woke up in this and the robe."

Catherine gently stroked her upper arm. "Okay, you just wait here a minute and I'll be right back."

The CSI didn't bother to walk back towards the Detective because she had already overheard him make the request to dispatch to have Emergency Medical Services (EMS) make their way to their crime scene. Instead she moved over to her kit to retrieve some bags and a pen. Once she had done that she attempted to make her way to the ensuite of Nicolette's bedroom, but found her pathway blocked by a male CSI who was slightly taller than herself with spiked light brown hair.

"Catherine, this is supposed to be my crime scene," he stated too quietly for anyone else to hear him.

Catherine had the good graces to look contrite while she said, "I know that Greg, but this is kind of a sensitive situation. Our supposed suspect is most definitely a victim of a fairly violent sexual assault. I've been able to build a rapport with her and I'm not sure how she will react to an unknown male right now."

"I get that," he quickly answered. "But, if I'm in charge here then let me collect the evidence... Uhh here in the room I mean since you'll be going to the hospital."

Although she wanted to take charge of anything connected to her newly found victim, Catherine knew that wasn't proper protocol. She relented quickly and relinquished ownership of the evidence bags and pen to her colleague. Greg gave her a grateful smile and remained in his spot for the instructions he knew that would follow her actions.

"She said that she woke up on the bathroom floor in a robe, so..."

"So, I need to collect the robe and anything else she may have used like towels from the bathroom," he interrupted trying not to sound as annoyed as he felt.

"Right, but Greg? Take a look at her. I'm pretty confident that she hasn't showered away any of our evidence."

They both turned to look at Nicolette who was standing staring at her feet. Her toes were curling themselves in the plush hotel carpeting to try to keep herself from fidgeting in her place too much. She knew that they were talking about her, but that wasn't what was making her so uneasy, even though it was a factor. The thing that was making her the most uncomfortable was that she was becoming more alert with every waking moment and her memories of the night before were starting to come back to her; particularly those of her assault. As the memories were flashing back to her, her eyes move unconsciously towards the dead body and she couldn't help but to question how he had met that fate.

 _I didn't do that, did I? I couldn't have... could I?_ She asked herself as she forced her eyes to stare at her feet. _No, he was alive when I passed out. I'm pretty sure he was... wasn't he?_

"No, she definitely looks like she could use a shower, Cath," Greg nearly whispered in reply. "But that doesn't mean that she didn't use a towel or a face cloth to do some spot cleaning."

Even though she didn't mean to, Catherine looked surprised that he had thought of that. Before she could speak, Greg took a step away as he angrily added, "I do know how to do my job."

"I know you..." She let her protests trail off there because he had entered the bedroom and she didn't want to yell out her reply and attract any more attention towards herself.

Detective Cavaliere moved over to her side so that he could quietly inform her that the ambulance was ready to transport their suspect slash victim to the hospital. Catherine gave him an unfriendly look at his title for Nicolette, but she had no heat in her tone when she said, "Okay, thank you."

She went back to her kit to retrieve a thin, hospital issue blanket that she wrapped around Nicolette's nearly naked body as she explained, "There's and ambulance waiting downstairs to take you to the hospital..."

"For a rape kit," Nicolette inadvertently interrupted, sounding very dazed.

"If you consent to it, yes. But I'm more worried about the damage that has been done to your throat and I really think you should have it checked out as well."

Nicolette gave her a tentative smile as she answered, "Thank you. And yes, I consent to whatever you need from me."

"And here's where I thank you. I'll be going with you to the hospital so that I can..."

"Collect the evidence. I understand," Nicolette cut-in sounding more alert. "I understand all of that, but..." Her eyes drifted back towards the body in the room as she added, "But I'm not sure that it will matter all that much since he's... you know and all..."

Catherine gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know you might feel that way, but every little bit of evidence is crucial in a homicide investigation."

Nicolette tried to take a deep breath, but that irritated her throat so much that she started to cough. Catherine moved closer to her side to comfort her, but the younger woman was quick to wave her off.

"That's why you have my consent," Nicolette replied once her breathing had steadied. "You can search anywhere; my room here, my dorm room and my body. Whatever will help you."

Catherine shared a surprised look with Detective Cavaliere, but it was he who asked, "Do you mean that Miss Radisson? Will you be willing to put that into writing?"

"Once Ms. Willows and I are cleared from the hospital, I will be more than happy to provide you with a written affidavit of consent."

The Detective couldn't help but to show his surprise at her new, more confident manner of speech."Miss Radisson, where is it that you are attending school?"

"I'm enrolled at UNLV."

"And what are you studying?"

"I'm doing my Graduate Studies in Forensic Sciences."

"So, that means that you..."

"I completely understand to what I am granting you access. Again, once I'm discharged from the hospital, I will get it to you in writing or sign any forms that you require from me."

Cavaliere nodded then answered, "Alright. I'll be waiting for you at the station. Catherine? Constable Martinez will accompany Miss Radisson in the ambulance, you can follow them in your truck." Catherine opened her mouth to protest, but he wouldn't hear any of it. "She is still technically being detained as a Person of Interest. That means that she can't go anywhere without a police escort."

The CSI still didn't look happy, but she abandoned all of her arguments when she saw a terrified look forming in her victim's eyes. "Nicolette? Don't worry. I"ll be right behind the ambulance and I"ll be there the whole time you're at the hospital. I promise you that I will."

Nicolette nodded quickly and whispered, "Cole... everyone calls me Cole. I'll see you there Miss Willows."

With that said, she wrapped the blanket more tightly around herself as she made her way to the Constable's side. Since she wasn't allowed to move about freely, she was sure that she was going to be placed in handcuffs before she was placed in the ambulance. With that in mind, she started to drop the blanket from her body to give the officer easier access to her wrists.

"No, Miss Radisson," Constable Martinez stated as she pulled the blanket back over her shoulders. "I don't believe that you are going to be a flight risk at all, so I don't feel that I need to place you in cuffs. Do I?"

Cole smiled then answered, "No, Ma'am. I don't either. I'm happy to cooperate."

The Constable partially wrapped her arm around Cole's blanket clad shoulders to help her walk as she lead her outside. As they began to move, she looked over her shoulder to say, "We'll see you there CSI..."

"Why isn't she in cuffs! Where the fuck do you think you're going KILLER!?" A familiar shrill voice screamed from a partially opened door. "You won't get away with this! You...!"

Her threats were quickly cut off by more than once officer running over to slam the door shut to the bedroom where she was being held for questioning. Constable Martinez hadn't paused at all and kept Nicolette moving so they were out in the hallway en route to the elevator during the majority of her 'friend's' tirade.

Catherine watched them leave before she moved over to her kit to repack it. Once that was done she gave the Detective a cheeky smile before she said, "Best of luck to you with that one."

He threw her an unimpressed look and replied, "Yeah, yeah. The glamorous life of a homicide detective."

Catherine paused at the entrance of the door before catching up to the other two women so that she could issue her last cutting remark of, "Viva Las Vegas!"


	2. Chapter 2

When she was finished showering, Cole slipped on the dark purple scrub top and pants that a nurse had given to her to borrow after her first round of exams were completed. She didn't want to delay anyone any longer than she had to, so she combed her hair just enough that her left eye was partially covered by her still wet hair. She then bundled up the shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the hospital gown she had been wearing since her clothes had been confiscated as evidence. Not that that bothered her all that much. The shirt wasn't hers, so she really didn't care what happened to it and her skirt? Well, the only reason she would ever want to get it back would be to burn it in an attempt to banish the memories of the last time that she wore it.

"Constable Martinez?" She called out as she opened the bathroom door.

The officer got up off the hospital bed where she had been seated while she waited for her detainee to finish. She quickly grabbed the door handle to pull the door open and make it easier for Cole to exit the room. She then stepped aside to let Cole pass by her en route to the chair where she had left the bag that had contained all of the toiletries that she had just used.

"Uhh… Officer? Is Ms. Willows still around?" She asked timidly with her back facing the officer.

"Yes, she is Miss Radisson. She's with the doctor waiting to continue with the other tests that they told you about. She isn't going to break her promise to you. She and I just thought that you wouldn't want a huge audience every step of the way," Constable Martinez explained.

Once everything was back in the bag, Cole turned around and said, "It isn't… I mean I appreciate the privacy, it's just… I found a couple of other injuries the you should know about."

"Ooh," Constable Martinez hissed in a sympathetic breath. "That looks painful," she commented as she pointed to Cole's puffy, now blackening left eye.

"Yeah," Cole replied, tucking her hair behind her ears in a life-long nervous gesture. "Nothing really hurts all that badly since the pain-killers started to kick in. It… uhh… it isn't the only one. There's one… but it's… uh… it's covered up."

Constable Martinez stilled Cole's hands at the hem of her shirt saying, "We can wait until we're with the doctor and CSI Willows for the show and tell."

"Oh? Okay. Thanks."

"And the nurse found these in the lost and found. We thought they would be more comfortable for you to wear."

Cole took the offered pair of white Keds sneakers from the officer. She sat down on an empty chair to put them on saying, "Anything is better than those booties I had to wear out of the hotel. Man, this was really nice of her to do… and thank you for bringing them to me. I really do appreciate it."

"You're welcome, Miss Radisson. Now, are you ready for round two?"

Cole stood up and moved her hair from behind her left ear to cover up that side of her face answering, "Can't be any worse than the last round of exams, right?"

The officer's face softened and she had an undeniable look of sympathy in her eyes as she opened the door and let Cole step into the hallway in front of her. Once the doctor had finished the sex assault examination, she had Cole eat a small meal so that she could administer some oral painkillers. Since her patient was still having difficulties swallowing, she had also given Cole some chamomile tea to help to soothe her damaged throat. After that she had been able to speak more easily and answer all three of their questions. Her memory was still spotty at best, but true to her word she was being completely cooperative and did her best to answer their questions truthfully.

When they were alone, Constable Martinez was able to chat with their potential homicide suspect about topics that didn't involve the two crimes that happened in the hotel room. She found the younger woman very charming and quite funny at times. While they were talking, the officer found that much like the CSI, she was looking at Cole more like a victim than a suspect. She even slipped up a couple of times and used her nickname to address her, so she started to make a conscious effort to address her as formally as possible. The officer had heard enough stories from colleagues about being fooled by a suspect because they seem like too nice of a person to have perpetuated the heinous crime they were looking into, so she didn't want to fall victim to that as well.

Just because Cole Radisson was a pretty blonde with bright blue eyes and a melodic laugh didn't mean that she couldn't be a murderer. The Constable would have been lying if she said that she wouldn't have gleefully taken the life of the man if he had raped her. Especially after she heard from the doctor about how brutally he had assaulted the other woman once she was incapacitated. Heck, even if it had been a friend or family member and not even herself, she would have relished in choking his last breath out of him in retribution. Which was the reason why she had to put some professional distance between herself and the potential suspect. That mean that there was no conversation as the two women walked down the hallway. The officer also made sure to walk a couple of steps behind Cole as they made their way to the examination room where the doctor and the CSI were waiting for them.

Cole hugged the plastic bag to her chest as she and Constable Martinez continued down the hallway. Ever since she had emerged from the bathroom after her shower, she had noticed a change in the officer's demeanor. Gone was her jovial tone and any attempts to joke around with her. She even noticed that she was always "Miss Radisson" now instead of "Cole" or the less favorable "Nicolette". Her brother was a police officer, so she knew what the change in name actually meant.

Not that she blamed the constable at all for said change. They had just met so there was no way for her to know who Cole really was as a person, let alone as a victim or a suspect. Heck, she had known herself for a little over twenty-four years and she still wasn't sure that she hadn't killed the man she left behind in her hotel suite. She hadn't known herself to be violent hen she had been drinking, but there was always that potential in everyone. Then again, she had never been attacked by anyone like this either. Maybe her 'fight or flight' instinct kicked in and she fought back, hard. For her eighteenth birthday her brother had given her self-defense classes as her graduation gift because he had wanted her to be prepared for when she went away to college and would be staying in a dorm away from her family. He had been to too many scenes where the damage to the victim would have been minimalized had the victim been able to defend themselves and he wanted to make sure that his little sister wouldn't be left so vulnerable.

She may have understood the officer's reaction, but that didn't mean that she wasn't feeling a little hurt by it all the same. Everything about this situation made her want to cry in frustration because everything had become so screwed up. This weekend was supposed to be a chance to let loose and relax before finals, but now she wasn't sure that she would ever really feel truly relaxed ever again.

 _Maybe I did kill him. I keep hearing people say they wouldn't blame me if I did do it._ She thought to herself. _Maybe I didn't just pass out in the bathroom… Maybe I went into a blind rage and killed him first._

"Welcome back, Miss Radisson," the doctor stated in a tone that was anything but warm and comforting once Cole had stepped back into the examination room.

"Thanks," Cole whispered, putting the plastic bag she had carried onto a chair. She moved over to the bed where her other exam had been completed and then said, "Thank you again for letting me get cleaned up."

The doctor didn't take her eyes off of the paperwork in her hands as she replied, "I trust you were able to get all of the bobby pins out of your hair so that we can take you for X-Rays now?"

"Yes, Ma'am. But before you do… umm… I found some other injuries that I should show all of you first, Dr. Lee."

The doctor passed the paperwork to a nurse and then turned her attention to her patient. She moved her reading glasses off of her nose and raised a well coifed eyebrow as she said, "Yes, I can see the bruising around your eye now. I'll be sure that they take some X-Rays of that area as well to ensure that there isn't a fracture that we need to worry about. Miss Willows, would you like to catalogue this injury now or later?"

Catherine stepped forward with her camera at the ready but she didn't get a chance to speak.

"Actually," Cole cut-in still sounding quite timid. "That isn't the one I was worried about… I uhh… on my…" She stopped herself there and closed her eyes to get her thoughts together. When she opened her eyes she wouldn't look at any of the other women when she added, "I think he bit me."

"Oh? I didn't see any evidence of that," Doctor Lee commented in a neutral tone.

Cole's hands were fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, so Constable Martinez abandoned her note taking to ask, "Is that the injury on your chest that you told me about, Miss Radisson?"

Cole opened her eyes to give the officer a grateful smile then answered, "Yes, Ma'am, it is."

The doctor looked over at the nurse who was standing in doorway with a wheelchair to take her patient to radiology to say, "Nurse Boyd? Would you please close the door?"

All of the blinds had been closed before they had completed the sexual assault examination, so they didn't have to worry about them to ensure privacy after the nurse had closed the door. To help the doctor to be able to see the damage that had been done, she turned on a couple more overhead lights and moved a spotlight closer to the bed where Cole as seated.

While the doctor put on a fresh pair of latex gloves and retrieved a small pen light, Constable Martinez walked to Cole's side to ask, "Are you alright with me remaining in the room while the doctor assesses your newly found injuries? I prefer to take my notes for my investigation first hand, but I'm not required to be here. I can always work off the doctor's notes if you would prefer more privacy."

"No, it's fine. You and CSI Willows can stay to document all of the… umm… you know to make everything go faster and all," Cole answered trying to make firm eye contact, but not quite accomplishing it.

"Alright Miss Radisson, if you could please show us the bite mark," the doctor instructed in the detached clinical tone that all doctors seem to have perfected at medical school.

Cole nodded and crossed her arms over her stomach so that she could pull her borrowed shirt over her head. She let the shirt fall behind her head so that she could keep her arms raised. She almost wished that had thought to keep the shirt to cover her face when she heard one of the ladies suck in a sympathetic breath. Instinctively she knew it must have been one of the law enforcement officers, most likely CSI Willows, because she had yet to meet a doctor who would give any reaction, other than quizzical probing to any injury. She had learned that at a young age when she was playing at a neighbor's house when she was nine. While running around the back yard playing, she stepped on a nail that went straight through her foot. She and her young friend had burst into frightened tears, but her friend's dad (a prominent surgeon in the area) had inspected it and told her she was lucky she hadn't broken a bone. He then proceeded to ten to the wound all the while telling the young Nicolette no to waste anymore tears on such a simple scratch. While he stitched it up he had his wife call Nicolette's parents and then had the injured girl explain to her mother what had happened.

"Are you alright with keeping your arms up like that?" The doctor asked as she moved the penlight to get a better look.

"Yes Ma'am, I'm fine."

After finishing her visual inspection, the doctor pressed an index finger into her patient's flesh asking, "It still looks quite raw and red. Were you able to clean it while you had your shower?"

"Not really, Ma'am. It was too tender for me to touch and it sort of burned when I put soap on it."

"And does it still hurt now when it's being touched?"

"Y-yes, Ma'am it does. I-is that bad?"

"It definitely isn't good." She turned away from Cole to ask, "Miss Willows would you like to take photos now or after I have treated the wound?"

"Both, if possible," the CSI answered.

The doctor stepped away saying, "By all means, go right on ahead while I collect a few other supplies."

"Thank you doctor." Catherine walked over to her victim with her camera in one hand and something Cole didn't recognize in her other hand. "I'm just going to take a couple of quick photos Cole, alright?"

She tried to give the CSI a strong, confident smile as she answered, "I was in a sorority when I did my undergrad, so I'm not really all that shy about my body."

"Well I'll definitely try to be more respectful than I'm sure that your sorority sisters were."

Cather tried to place the right angle styled ruler around the wound, but since its placement was on the underside of Cole's breast it wouldn't remain in place while she took her photos. She still took a couple of photos from that angle and then politely asked Cole, "Would you mind laying back against the bed?" The victim nodded and complied immediately. Once she was on her back, Catherine requested, "Could you raise your hands above your head again? That's great right there. Thank you."

She then placed the ruler on Cole's chest and was able to get the photos she needed for her investigation. When she was done, she moved back and the doctor took her place. Doctor Lee instructed her patient to remain as she was so that she could clean and disinfect the wound.

Catherine watched the doctor for a moment before she moved over to the officer's side to quietly report, "Whomever bit the underside of her breast broke the skin. I've seen wounds like that before on other victims, but this one is by far the worst I've ever seen."

Constable Martinez had continued to take down notes while CSI Willows spoke, but she stopped and looked the other woman in the eyes at that comment. She then leaned in to say just over a whisper, "Isn't looking good for her, is it?"

Catherine shrugged replying, "I still say we let the evidence point us to the killer."

"Alright, Miss Radisson, you can get dressed now. Unless…? Are there any other injuries I need to treat before we continue?"

"No Ma'am, just the chunk taken out of my boob," Cole replied with a nervous laugh. Once she had her borrowed shirt back in place, she looked at the other four women in the room and added, "I'm being a total weirdo about this, right? I'm sorry, I know that most… uhh… I know I should be like comatose or something, but I can't stop thinking about how I can use this experience for my Thesis. I mean… when I FOI the information from this file they'll be able to disclose so much more information to me. Plus…"

"Plus what Cole?" Catherine asked as she stepped to her side once again when she had trailed off.

She looked up at Catherine and suddenly looked so much younger to the CSI now that she wasn't wearing any makeup. "Plus, it still isn't sinking in that it happened to me. It's like when I look in the mirror and see the bruises, it hits me, but… But I still don't really remember what happened so, it kind of feels like it didn't really happen, you know?" She paused there and then shook her head before adding, "I've read about how shock affects victims, but it's really weird living it… Okay, I'll… I'll stop talking now."

"Oh Cole, it's alright. Don't try to compare yourself to anyone else because everyone's experience is different," Catherine replied as she rubbed the younger woman's arm in an effort to comfort her.

Cole sniffled in a breath and barely managed to whisper out a 'thank you' around a tearful lump in her throat. Catherine could tell that all of the day's events were starting to hit Cole hard and that the younger woman was attempting to use humor to keep from becoming completely overwhelmed.

"Alright, so Nurse Boyd will take you for X-Rays and a CT scan. I believe that Ms. Willows will want to accompany you and that Constable Martinez is required to, so I will meet you back here when that is done," Doctor Lee stated in an attempt to get everyone back on track.

After that things became a bit of a blur for Cole. They moved her from one machine to another until they felt satisfied that they had all of the pictures of her body that the doctor needed. While they waited for the X-Rays to be delivered to the doctor, she took some time to give instructions to her patient about the best way to tend to her wounds once she left the hospital so that they would heal faster. Her most persistent piece of advice was for Cole to become very good friends with ice packs. The bruises on her eye, throat, wrists and chest were all in the early stages of development so ice would help them to heal faster. Once she was alerted to the human bite on her body, the doctor also wrote a prescription for a topical antibiotic to go along with the oral antibiotic she had already ordered due to the damage done during the sexual assault. Although Doctor Lee stressed that the painkillers should be taken sparingly and only when absolutely necessary, the antibiotics, on the other hand, needed to be taken until the bottle was completely empty, no exceptions.

Once she had been reassured more than once that Cole understood all of her directions, Doctor Lee signed Cole's release forms. Cole then followed Cather towards her GMC Yukon Denali while Constable Martinez trailed behind them.

Cole couldn't take her eyes off of her prescriptions during their entire walk back to the SUV, so Catherine gripped gently by the forearm while she said, "We'll help you get those filled before you head home, Sweetheart."

"Home?" Cole asked, once again sounding quite dazed. "Do you really think that they'll let me go home?"

Catherine started to answer, but paused when she heard Constable Martinez clear her throat purposefully. The CSI then mentally chastised herself and amended her answer to respond with a less comforting sounding, "I'm hoping you will be able to go back to your dorm room before the day is done."

Cole looked up from the papers in her hand and she didn't care if both of the other women could see the tears gathering in her eyes.

"That isn't home," Cole replied simply before she opened the rear passenger door and climbed into the back seat in the truck.

Catherine turned and stared at Constable Martinez with a look of disbelief. The Constable just shrugged her shoulders before she too opened the rear passenger door to climb into Catherine's truck to ride beside her detainee.

Once they were back at headquarters, Constable Martinez quickly escorted Cole to an interview room. She had hoped that Catherine's co-workers had been able to find some evidence while they were at the hospital that Nicolette Radisson was not the main suspect in the death of Lucky Rivero. Despite her best efforts to keep everything professional between the two of them, the officer had grown fond of the younger woman. She seemed to be smart and witty and the officer truly wished that their first meeting had of been with Cole as a green CSI in the field, not as the potential suspect. But since she couldn't turn back the hands of time to force that to happen, she just went out to find Detective Cavaliere so that that she could continue her shift as normally as she possibly could while he continued his side of the investigation.

When Cole had been placed in the interrogation room, she had sat down at the table thinking that the Detective or someone else would join her to interrogate her right away. There was no clock in the room, so she had no idea how long she had waited but it felt like forever. The note pad papers in her right had started to almost feel heavy in her grasp, so she pulled them out and placed them on the table. She had done that in the hopes that she would feel a sense of relief, but seeing the bright white papers in front of her seemed to have the opposite effect.

Now they were staring her in the face and practically mocking her. She was far away from her childhood home and her family and these prescriptions were practically screaming at her that her mother had been right. They were saying that they were proof that she wasn't ready to move out of State, she wasn't ready to be out on her own without her family close by her as a safety net.

It wasn't until the first tear hit the back of her hand that Cole pushed back away from the table and stood up to pace the length of the room. She was sober now, she still had painkillers coursing through her veins, so her body no longer protested her every move and her mind was as clear as it could be after such a long day and night. Her mind started racing and wandering into some really weird territory, which really was sort of close to normal for her.

 _They probably still think that I killed him. Should I ask for a lawyer? No, only guilty people do that. Right? Shit! What did Mom say about this?_ She froe in her spot with her hands over her mouth in an effort to suppress the sudden urge to vomit. _They won't call… God no, idiot! You are a grown ass woman! They can't call anyone without your permission. If they do that's… Dammit! Why didn't I actually listen to Mom and Dad when they rambled on about this? I didn't kill him, I'm sure of it… Right? No! You didn't! Now let's…_

The sound of the door opening behind her cut off the rest of Cole's train of thought. A young man with short brown spikey hair with spots of blonde tips walked him with a manila file folder in his hands. She turned so that they could look at each other.

He tried to give her an easy smile as he said, "Hi Nicolette, my name is Greg Sanders and I'm…"

"Miss Radisson, take a seat," Detective Cavaliere barked out over the rest of the younger man's greeting.

Cole immediately caught the annoyed look on the younger man's face, so she purposefully took a step towards him and thrust out her hand saying, "Mister Sanders, it's nice to meet you. I assume that you are the CSI in charge of the homicide scene. Please do call me 'Cole'. Only my mom calls me 'Nicolette' and then it usually means that I'm in trouble with her."

Greg took her hand and shook it with a chuckle on his lips. The Detective didn't feel as amused by his detainee's antics and made it known by barking out a forceful, "Sit!"

Cole really didn't want to comply with him just for the mere fact that the Detective had interrupted both of them more than once. But then her eyes caught those of the CSI and all of her bravado seeped out of her. He looked like he was practically begging her not to start a fight, so she dumped her weight into a chair on the opposite side of the table of where the two men had found a seat.

Greg gave her a soft smile and mouthed a quick 'thank you' as the Detective threw down a heavy file folder onto the table. Cole hated that she jumped in her seat at that action, but she noticed that the CSI did as well so she let it go. The Detective wanted to think that he was the toughest person in the room, so for now she was willing to let him think that he was so that they could get through sooner than letter.

"Tell me what you know about Athena Ericksen," Detective Cavaliere order as he pulled out his notebook and pen.

That hadn't been the question Cole had anticipated hearing, so it took her a couple of seconds to reply. "She… she's been my roommate for two semesters now. She offered to let me spend summer break with her when she heard that I was just going to stay near campus because…"

"No, not that," Cavaliere interrupted. "What do you know about her family? About her sister Artemis?"

"Oh them. Well… her parents are like professors or something who specialize in Ancient Greek History. They met on a dig outside of Athens and were inseparable after that, hence their names. Thea jokes that if they had a brother, the poor guy probably would be saddled with a name like Hercules or Zeus."

"Better than Hades," Greg chimed in with a soft chuckle.

Detective Cavaliere glared at both of them so Cole forced herself to become more somber when she heard him more angrily ask, "And her sister? Tell me more about what you know about her."

"Oh… well… not much," Cole replied honestly. "We try not to talk too much about our families. We got to what our parents do for a living and the fact that we both aren't only children, but beyond that… well to me it sounded like they weren't close, so I assumed that she, like me, was from out of State and didn't see her family much."

Detective Cavaliere seemed to take a moment to consult his paperwork before he questioned in a condescending voice, "So that would mean that you don't know that her parents WERE professors at UNLV, which means that both Athena and her sister can attend the university tuition free?"

"No," Cole snapped back, no longer able to pretend that she as completely passive. "Of course I didn't know that or I fucking would have told you that. I had no idea that her parents were dead and that her sister lived locally."

Both of the men's eyes widened at her minor outburst but the Detective recovered fairly quickly. "So then you also, to use your words, have no idea what Artemis Ericksen looks like then?"

Cole crossed her arms over her chest, but she forced herself to swallow back some of her anger before she answered, "No, Sir. We both wanted to focus on our studies so we kept the clutter in our room to a bare minimum. No posters, no family photos, nothing but school books on shelves on our walls. So

, no Detective, I don't know what her sister looks like and she couldn't pick out any of my brothers or sisters in a line up either. I feel like I should be apologizing for that fact, but I can't. It is what it is, so… yeah."

The Detective frowned at that reply and then asked, "And what do you know about Lucky Rivero?"

Now it was Cole's turn to frown as she swallowed thickly. She wasn't sure if her painkillers were wearing off or if it was completely psychological, but all of the sudden her throat felt like it was starting to close up again. Her hands traveled up to her neck unconsciously and then she started to massage the front of it softly with her thumbs.

"Y-you… you've detained me i-in… in connection with his death. I-I'm p-pretty sure that h-he… he… he raped me."

"Miss Radisson…" The Detective started until he saw Greg push back away from the table almost violently.

Without a word to the other people in the room he then walked out the door. Cole spared a look at the Detective, but he appeared to be as perplexed as she felt so she went back to staring at her hands in the meantime. The Detective continued to stare at Greg's invisible path, but soon enough he shook it off and realized that he really didn't need or want the CSI in the room while he questioned his suspect.

"Alright, well back to the topic at hand," he tried again in an attempt to get them back on track.

As he opened his mouth to question her again, the door opened and Greg reentered the room. He placed a Styrofoam cup in front of her and quietly said, "Catherine mentioned that the doctor prescribed warm liquids to soothe your throat. That's some hot water, lemon and honey. I hope it helps so that it's easier for you to answer our questions."

"Thanks," Cole replied in a hoarse voice. Some people may have thought that she was once again succumbing to her injuries, but they would have been wrong. The tightness in her throat had nothing to do with the bruises still forming on it and had everything to do with the emotions that overwhelmed her by his kindness.

As Cole sipped at the warm liquid, she let her eyes follow Greg as he moved through the room. He moved back to his seat on the other side of the table, but he made sure to move it further away from the Detective as if to show her that they were not 'on the same side' of this interrogation.

Cavaliere didn't seem to take notice of the CSI's actions as he cleared his throat then said, "Back to Lucky Rivero. Miss Radisson, do you know how he earned his living?"

Cole swallowed the liquid in her mouth and then shook her head. When she replied she once again sounded somewhat hostile as she said, "Since my entire encyclopedia of knowledge of the man is that he brutally raped me and gave me all of these lovely bruises…" She paused there to point out the coloring on her eye, throat and wrists. "And now he's dead. So no, I have no idea how he made his living. So please Detective, enlighten me what that piece of shit considered to be his job when this is what he did for fun."

The Detective picked up the manila folder and pulled out a couple of pictures and threw them onto the table in front of Cole on the table top. She put her cup down so that she could pull them closer to her to see them better. By the third photo, Cole had them lined up perfectly in a row and felt even more confused that she had previously.

"Thea has been arrested?" She asked no one in particular.

"No…" Greg started in a sympathetic tone until he heard Detective Cavaliere snort in a breath.

"That right there," the Detective said disdainfully. "That is Artemis Ericksen. On the streets she goes by 'Ariel'."

"Ariel…" Cole repeated as she stared down at the mugshots in front of her. "Wait! Are you saying… Artemis… Thea's sister is a hooker?"

"I think they prefer the term 'escort'." Greg injected. He then quickly added, "I think she goes by 'Ariel' because of the color of her hair."

Cole picked up one of the pictures then said, "It's a nickname Thea has had since childhood… or so she said when we met." She then seemed to catch herself to look the Detective in the eye. "I take it from these photos that Athena and Artemis are twins and… and…"

As she spoke she felt bile and every piece of solid food in her stomach working its way up her throat. She rolled out of her seat and rushed to the wastebasket by the door. The Detective thought that she was trying to make a break for it and leave the room, so he stood up and pushed back form the table to follow her. Greg on the other hand could see what was happening and remained in his seat while he waited for Cole to rejoin them.

Once Detective Cavaliere caught a whiff of Cole's deposit in the wastebasket, he too retreated back to his seat at the table. Cole slowly made her way back to the table and cleansed her palate with a few large gulps from her Styrofoam cup.

Once she was able to speak again, Cole looked up at the Detective and asked, "I take it that my weekend was spent with Artemis and not Thea like I had thought it would be?"

"That appears to be the case," the Detective answered more politely than he had sounded previously.

Cole picked up one of the mugshots and absentmindedly asked, "Are you absolutely sure that it was Artemis in the room? I mean…"

"They are identical twins, so DNA wasn't helpful to us," Greg jumped in when Cole started to trail off. "She also had a note on her record that she is known to use her sister's name when being checked by police, so we confirmed her ID by her fingerprints."

"Oh… oh God…" Cole groaned out unconsciously. "So then Lucky… he was… he was like her 'John' or something?"

The Detective shook his head then pulled out a mugshot of another male and asked, "Do you recognize this man?"

The apparent abrupt change of subject caught Cole slightly off guard, so she first answered, "No… wait!" She picked up the photo then said, "This… I think this is the guy who was hitting on Thea… err Artemis at the club. He bought us a couple bottles of vodka at the VIP lounge… and then he… uhh… I'm pretty sure he came back to our room with us and he and Th… Art… uhh Miss Ericksen spent the rest of the night in her room. Why does he have a mugshot?"

"He IS one of her Johns. In fact, he's one of her preferred clients from what we have learned," the Detective explained as he placed the photos back in the folder.

Cole shivered slightly in her place, so she picked up her nearly empty cup to try to siphon off as much heat from it as possible. "Then who is Lucky and where does my assault fit into this picture?"

Detective Cavaliere kept his eyes laser focused on her face so that he could monitor her reaction as he answered, "He was Ariel's pimp. Whenever she thought that she had found someone that would be another good working girl, she and Lucky would treat that girl to a weekend on the strip. Usually that weekend also included an audition of sorts for the girl Ariel wanted to initiate."

The color drained from Cole's face prompting Greg to ask, "Did you want me to grab the wastebasket for you?"

"N-no… No, I think I'm good," she replied sounding and looking like she was lost in a thought. "So then what? Lucky tests out 'the goods' and sees how much pain she can take so that he could use it as a selling point for his clients?"

"Not exactly," the Detective answered still closely monitoring Cole's reaction. "Usually it's Mister Johnson who gets that honor for footing the bill for the weekend." He accentuated his point by tapping on the folder where he had replaced all of the mugshots.

"Johnson? Really?" Cole retorted with a derisive snort. "If he has that much money why doesn't he just troll for drunk chicks at the bar and bring them back to his suite like a normal person? Why is he hiring hookers and testing out new ones for a pimp?"

"He isn't as rich as he tries to appear," Greg answered when the detective looked like he wasn't going to respond. "He was booked on fraud charges for using fake credit cards to pay for his weekend excursions with the two of them."

"Wow, seriously? What a sleaze. So? Why was this weekend so different? Why did I get such 'special treatment'?"

Both men shrugged and then Detective Cavaliere responded, "We couldn't get a straight answer out of Miss Ericksen beyond the fact that Mr. Johnson prefers red heads to blondes. We're waiting for her to come down from her high before we try to question her further."

That piece of information caused Cole's eyes to bug out as she questioned, "High? She was doing drugs while sharing a room with me? Please tell me I just had a stroke and misheard what you said."

"Actually from the evidence we found in her room it looks like she and her… escort went on a bit of a bender last night… err this morning," Greg explained almost apologetically.

"Okay, but it's been hours since we got back to our room, shouldn't they have worked their way out of her system by now?"

Greg looked slightly embarrassed, but Detective Cavaliere just looked annoyed that Cole deigned to ask him any questions at all. He appeared to have an unfriendly retort for her, but he wasn't able to issue it. Instead he answered his now ringing phone. Somehow he managed to look even angrier at whatever he was haring from the person on the other end of the line.

"Okay, I'll be right over," he replied as he stared Cole down like whatever he was hearing was her fault. After he hung up the phone and had it placed in his pocket he turned to Cole and said, "There's something I have to take care of right now. Don't leave this room."

Cole's eyebrows knitted together as she thought to herself, _would it kill you not to be a surly dick for like one full fucking minute?_ But to him she just gave a halfhearted smile and a nod.

Greg got up to follow Cavaliere, but he hung back until the other man disappeared around the corner so that he could quietly say, "Don't take it personally. He's been snapping at everyone since he found out that Artemis snuck in a couple of eight balls and snorted them back during a restroom break."

Cole looked up from her hands and whispered, "For real?"

Greg gave her another half-smile and answered, "For real. We shouldn't be long."

"I'll wait here," Cole replied with a cheeky grin because where else would she go?

Greg chuckled as he left the room en route to his old post in the DNA lab. He had received a text from Mia Dickerson saying that she needed to see him and the Detective as soon as humanly possible. Since she knew that they were in an interview with a potential suspect, they both knew it had to be pretty important.

Once she was alone, Cole stood up and started pacing the length of the room again. It was her preferred method of trying to work through any problems she needed to solve, like how she could make her research fit into her papers in a cohesive manner. When she was working on her Bachelor's Degrees, her dad would tease her that her degree was still costing him as much as her siblings even though she was at school on scholarship because he was having to replace the floor boards in the house after each of her visits.

That had been a running joke between them up until…

Cole shook her head then thought, _Stop! One problem at a time, remember? So… your supposed friend switches places with her hooker sister for the weekend… why? Neither of us has to worry about our tuitions since her parents are…Wait! He said 'were'… Right, that means that her parents are dead… does she no longer get free tuition? Oh no! Her sister is a high class hooker, so maybe that's how it works. Artemis pays for everything and in return Athena supplies her with new meat. Fuck! Did she really think that because I'm frugal that I'm hard up for money? But she…_

"God! Can't I just sit down for like a second?" A familiar shrill voice cut off Cole's new train of thought.

When Cole got turned around, she saw Artemis shaking off an officer's hold so that she could sit down on a chair in the hallway. Cole instantly saw red and it wasn't just because of the artificially red coloring of the other woman's hair. She had a new person to blame for what had happened to her and now she might actually be able to get some answers about why the hell it happened.

Before she even realized it, Cole was out the door of the interview room screaming, "You stupid whore! How could you jeopardize my future like that! You know I can't get any of the jobs I've been studying for with a criminal record!"

By this point the female officer who had been leading Artemis down the hallway was holding Cole back so that she couldn't hurt her. Artemis gave her a smug smile that almost made the officer want to let go of the woman in her arms to let her have her way with her.

"Thea said that you were opening your legs up so frequently that you might as well get paid for it," the red head replied with a tone of superiority that matched the look on her face.

Cole started to go limp in the officer's arms and must have looked as shocked as she felt because Artemis snorted in a laugh then added, "If you had of just laid back and taken it like a good little girl he wouldn't have hurt you." Artemis appeared to be so satisfied with how her comments were affecting Cole that she couldn't help but to add another spiteful jab of, "Your bruises will heal, you didn't have to kill him."

That comment not only caught Cole's attention, it set her off completely. She then lunged forward nearly spitting as she seethed out, "You fucking…"

The officer at her back pulled Cole away while some other officers appeared to intervene. One of the male officers that came between them helped Artemis to her feet (read yanked her by the arm until she was standing) and moved her away from the interview room. That was quickly met by some quiet protests from the woman so he paused when he was out of striking distance of Cole.

"Come on Ariel, you're supposed to be waiting for the nice detective in an interview room," he said while he all but rolled his eyes at her protests.

"I… I… I need another pee break," she pleaded sounding as innocent as possible.

The male officer passed Artemis off to another female officer who immediately lead her down the hall. The male officer followed them saying, "This nice officer found the eight balls you hid in the restroom Ariel, so no more bio breaks until you tell the nice detective everything you know."

Every muscle in Cole's body was still tense and poised for a fight as she watched her roommate's identical twin be lead away by three officers prompting the woman behind her to quietly say, "Miss Radisson…"

"I'm calm… I'm calm…" Cole quietly replied as she tried to move her hands above her head. "I'm sorry for the outburst. I promise it won't happen again."

"It's alright, I understand. You've had a long, stressful day and I'm sure you haven't been able to eat properly either, so it's kind of expected," the officer replied as she helped Cole to sit in the chair that Artemis had vacated.

Cole chuckled softly to herself before she replied, "Even though that's true it still isn't an excuse for my behavior. But thank you for saying that Constable…"

"Black, Constable Black. And it's all true Miss Radisson. After being through so much trauma your body needs rest and nourishment, not more stress. I'll see if I can find someone who can convince the Detective to let you at least have a proper meal before he interrogates you again." That commentary earned the officer the look of disbelief she was used to getting from people when she said things that people didn't expect to hear from a police officer. "My mom is a nurse, so I've been hearing stuff like that since I as a kid."

"Sorry, I didn't mean…"

"It's okay, you aren't the first person to give me that look and I'm sure you won't be the last. Plus, like I said it's been a long day, so I'm just glad you still look awake and coherent."

"Still, I shouldn't judge," Cole replied with a contrite smile. "And thank you again for stopping me… helping me. I guess that I should head back into the interview room and wait for Detective Cavaliere."

Although it wasn't completely noticeable, Constable Black could see that Cole's hands were shaking slightly so she placed a soft hand on her shoulder to counter in a gentle tone, "Or you could just rest here for a minute. I'll pretend that I'm guarding you here in case anyone questions us."

Cole looked up to give the officer a grateful smile but her eyes ended up catching that of another male's just a ways down the hall from her. He did a double take before he passed the file folder he was holding to a lab worker so that he could start down the hall towards where she was sitting.

"Nicco?" He called out as he got closer to her.

Cole jumped up from her seat, bolted into the interview room and slammed the door closed. She held onto the handle to catch her breath before she crossed to the other side of the room to resume pacing. She figured that the two of them meeting here was inevitable given the work that he did, but she wasn't ready for that reunion just yet. She was sure that she hadn't murdered the man that had hurt her, but she didn't have concrete evidence to prove that right now. She really wanted that evidence to prove to him that she was still the same person that he remembered her to be. But not like this, not yet.

 _Damn it!_ She cursed silently to herself. _Fuck! FUCK! Why isn't there another door in here? Duh! Cop shop, interview…_

"Nicco?" He called out as he opened the door. "Nicco? Is that really you?"

She paused with her back still facing him to force herself to calm down. She knew there was no way to avoid him now, so she moved her hair to cover her left eye as much as possible before she turned around to face him and reply, "Hey Nicky. Long time no see."


	3. Chapter 3

"Nicco?" CSI Nicholas Stokes called out as he opened the door to the interview room. "Nicco, is that really you?"

She paused with her back still facing him to force herself to calm down. She knew that there was no way to avoid him now, so she moved her hair to cover her left eye the best that she could. As she moved her hair to cover her face and neck she caught a glimpse of her wrists and instantly wished that she was wearing long sleeves.

 _Or that I wasn't here at all._ She thought to herself before she turned around to timidly reply, "Hey Nicky. Long time no see."

He quickly closed the door behind him and moved towards her asking, "What are you doing here?" He stopped abruptly then gave her a questioning look and added, "And why are you wearing hospital scrubs?"

Nicco moved her hands from behind her back to her ears but froze them mid-air when she remembered why she had moved her hair forward in the first place. She almost instantly regretted that action because now he could see the other bruises she had been trying to keep hidden from him. It didn't take Nick long to notice the injuries on Nicco's wrists and the fact that she was intentionally using her hair to cover up her face.

His right hand snatched up her left arm and he pulled it towards him more roughly than he had meant to as he asked, "Are these bruises? How the hell did you get these?"

"Oh… well…"

"Alright Cole, the Detective is going to be tied up for a little bit longer," Greg's voice came from the door interrupting her feeble attempts to explain her injuries. "Did you…?" He froze when he turned around and didn't hide his surprise when he noticed that she wasn't alone in the room. That surprise quickly turned into an annoyed frown when he realized who it was that was with his interviewee. "Hey Nick…"

Nick didn't move his gaze from the woman, whose arm he was still holding, he interrupted his colleague to say, "Not now Greg. I need a moment alone with her."

Since the older man wasn't looking at him and the woman's eyes seemed to be staring at the ground, Greg rolled his eyes as he replied, "Like I told Catherine, I've got this. I really don't need your help, but thank you anyways."

That comment finally got Nick to take his eye off of Nicco. He then turned his upper body to give Greg a menacing glare. Nicco flinched when she saw Greg jump slightly at the look on the other CSI's face because she could only imagine how angry Nick must have appeared right then. She had been on the receiving side of look more than once from Nick so she could sympathize with how Greg was feeling.

"I said not now Greg," Nick repeated with a lot of heat in his tone. "I need to speak with Nicco alone for a minute before you question her."

Greg threw his hands up in a sign of surrender, but he couldn't help but to ask, "Nicco?"

"Yeah, that's her name… well nickname," Nick snapped back angrily.

During his brief back and forth with his colleague, Nick's grip on Nicco's arm started to tighten. Initially she had just tried to ignore it because she didn't want to draw his attention back to her. His anger was being directed at someone else right now and she was more than fine with that.

But then his grip became so tight that she feared that she would have new bruises blossoming as a result, so she whimpered quietly and then whispered, "Nicky? You're hurting me."

Nick reacted instantly to her strained voice and let go of her arm. At the same time, he turned back to look at her. She tried to give him an encouraging smile because she could tell by the look on his face that he had forgotten that he was holding onto her arm. Not that she would ever think that he would hurt her on purpose.

Before he could try to apologize, she stepped closer to him and said in a slightly humorous tone to try to further ease his mind, "It's okay Nicky. These (she held up her arms to show him her wrists) are kind of like evidence so I just didn't want you to get into trouble for destroying evidence."

Nick's eyes went wide and he closed the distance between them. At first Nicco thought it was because of her badly placed joke, but then she noticed that his eyes weren't looking at her hands. His eyes were flicking between her neck and her face, so she tried to tuck her chin into her chest to hide behind her hair again.

Nick carefully took her chin in his right hand and gently forced her to look up at him. He kept steady eye contact with the woman in front of him while he addressed the man behind him saying, "Greg, as a favor to me, can you give me a minute alone with Nicolette?"

"Y-yeah, sure man. No problem," Greg stammered out as she made his way back out the door. "Oh, but if Detective…"

"I'll deal with them when they get here," Nick interrupted, eyes still totally focused on Nicco's face.

Greg then left without another word. Even though he had wanted to call out another warning to the other CSI he forced himself to walk away and to keep his mouth shut. He was hoping that if he granted Nick this favor without commentary or complaint that he would be able to get the scoop on what was happening between him and his victim that much sooner. Because the interaction between the two of them was making him beyond curious.

As soon as the door closed behind the younger CSI's retreat, Nicco's bottom lip started to quiver uncontrollably. She gently extracted her chin from Nick's grasp and then stepped around him so that she could once again try to get her emotions in check. Her hands immediately raised themselves to her ears to tuck her hair behind them as she walked away from him. She almost untucked it after she remembered what it was hiding, but she didn't bother hiding behind it anymore. Nick had already seen all of her bruises, so there was no way that he was going to let her leave this room until she told him about how she had acquired the new coloring on her skin.

 _But how? How do I tell him about what happened to me?_ She thought to herself as she ran her fingers through her hair and retucked it behind her ears numerous times. _I mean, how does a person tell their…_

"Nicco, please? Please will you tell me how you got your bruises?" Nick asked with none of the heat in his tone that had been there previously.

She turned around to face him and nearly let a sob sneak out at the look on his face. He started to move towards her when he saw her face start to crumble, but she quickly waved him off. He retreated back a couple of steps with a questioning look, so she quickly said, "If you try to hug me now, I'll breakdown. You know as well as I do that if I start to cry then I won't be able to answer anyone's questions."

"Okay, Nicco. Okay," he replied with an encouraging smile. "I'll just sit over here and you take your time, okay Baby Girl?"

She smiled and nodded while she watched him pick up the chair she had been using and turned it so that he would be facing her once he was seated. The room wasn't all that big, but she appreciated that he was willing to give her some space right now. She also took not that he hadn't sat on the other side of the table where the other CSI and the Detective had been posted during their interrogation. She wasn't sure if it was a conscious decision or not, but she was grateful that he had made that choice because it definitely helped to make this situation feel more like a conversation instead of another interrogation.

Nicco immediately started pacing again while she tried to think of the easiest way to put the truth into words. She knew that Nick was a seasoned CSI so she didn't have to sugar coat the events that led up to her being in this interview room, but their relationship made her want to soften the blow for him. Even if it was only a minute amount.

Seeing Nicco start pacing was such a normal, familiar sight that Nick couldn't help but to smile softly. When he first saw her talking with Constable Black he hadn't given her a second thought, but the more glimpses he caught of her, the more he thought he knew her. It hadn't been all that long, well maybe three years of not seeing someone in person was kind of long, but she looked a lot older to him and more mature. Her hair was the same artificial, golden blonde he knew she loved, but her face looked so different. And it wasn't the growing shiner that cause him to think that, although it didn't help. He couldn't quite put his finger on it until she stopped and turned to look at him full on once again. For the first time in all of the years he had known her, Nicco wasn't wearing any makeup. Not that she normally layered it on thickly or anything. She usually had at least a light coverage that almost looked natural but was a little too perfect to fully pull the au naturel look off.

"So," Nicco started quietly. "You guys usually talk to each other about the jobs you are working, right? Like you share theories with each other so that you can make sure you don't miss any important evidence?"

Nick couldn't help but to frown at her seemingly odd question because he knew that they had talked about that very topic more than over the phone during the last few years. But he also knew Nicco well enough that he knew she wouldn't have asked that question if it wasn't important or didn't have something to do with what she was trying to tell him.

"Yeah Nicco, you know that we all do that from time to time."

She nodded and then started picking at the hem of her shirt as she asked, "Do you know what case CSI Sanders and CSI Willows are working on?"

"Yeah, Greg is looking into a 419 in a suite at Caesar's Palace and Catherine stumbled upon a 426 at that crime scene. Why?"

Nicco shrugged and refused to look at him when she answered, "Well… at least I'm not dead."

"What…?" He then stared at her in a stunned silence. He looked again at her wrists, neck, and face (that was once again obscured by her hair) with a filter of this new information. They definitely were injuries that would be consistent with that kind of assault. On that same train of thought her clothing choice made more sense to him because nurses seemed to always have a pair of extra scrubs on hand to lend his victims after he had had to take their clothes to lodge as evidence.

"Oh Nicco, when…? Where…? Who…?" He stood up and pushed the chair back as he did, but he didn't try to approach her just yet.

When Nicco saw him stand up, she instinctively took a step back, but she immediately hit the wall behind her. Since he didn't try to approach her, she relaxed slightly in her place. She once again avoided eye contact with him while she tried her best to answer his understandably disjointed questions.

"Some time in the wee hours of this morning… I think. I… I can't really remember what time we left the club. I-it happened in our room at Caesar's and uhh… I don't really know who the guy was but… umm… he's CSI Sanders' 419."

"Nicco," he stated to himself forlornly as he crossed the room in two long strides. Despite her earlier protests, Nicco let Nick wrap her in his arms without complaint. She easily tucked herself into his chest with her head under his chin. He kissed he side of her head then quietly said, "From what you're wearing I can tell that you've been to the hospital, but you know I have to ask…"

Nicco carefully pushed out of his embrace, but kept her left arm around his waist as she replied, "Everything that you see looks worse than it is, I swear. The doctor took X-Rays and I had a CT scan because I blacked out for a bit, but they all came back clear. She gave me a… y'know because he didn't wear a… err… a… y'know and then she gave me these." She pulled out her prescriptions once again to show him as she explained, "Painkillers and antibiotics because some of… it's apparently kind of bad… uhh… my injuries that… uhh…"

Nick pulled her back again his chest and shushed her into silence. "I get it Nicco, you really don't have to go into details about that."

They both then fell silent and seemed content for him just to hold her right now. There were a lot of other topics that they both wanted to cover, but they knew their time alone in the station would be limited. In the back of both of their minds they were simultaneously surprised and relieved that the Detective hadn't returned yet. Nick knew that Greg would try to give them as much time alone as he could, but that didn't mean that he could stall the investigation indefinitely.

With that last thought in mind, he was going to release her from his embrace, but then Nicco gripped the back of his shirt tightly and pressed her face into his chest. Before he could double check that she was still remaining stoic and holding it together the best that she could, he heard her let out a loud, gut-wrenching sob. She kept her face against his chest as her tears hit her fast and hard. Nick just held her and mumbled some words of comfort into her hair. He knew that once she started to cry that there was very little he could do to calm her until she had gotten the worst of it out.

After a few minutes Nick tried to move them towards one of the chairs, but Nicco remained rooted in her spot, so he abandoned that course of action. He knew that was her way of telling him that she was comfortable where she was, so he honored her silent request.

Just as she was starting to calm down, the door to the interview room opened. Detective Cavaliere stepped in saying, "Alright Miss… What the…?" He stared at her empty seat angrily until he heard a soft sniffle to his right. After he turned his head to see his suspect wrapped in what looked like a fairly intimate embrace with another CSI, he snidely commented, "Stokes, what is it with you and hookers? Can't you find a girl who will spend time with you that you don't have to pay?"

Nicco heard Nick's quiet growl by her ear, so he tightened her hold around his waist and quietly said, "Don't Nicky. He isn't worth it. Please? Just let it go for now, please? For me?"

He let out a heavy sigh and let all of the tension seep out of his muscles. He knew she was right, but she still wanted to open up a Texas-sized can of whoop ass on Cavaliere for speaking about her in such a derogatory way.

"Okay Nicco, I'll try to let it go… for you."

She gave him a grateful squeeze and then pulled out of their embrace. She then took Nick by the hand and crossed the room to the chair that lay vacant. Greg got up from his seat and moved the extra chair on their side of the table towards Nick and Nicco. They released their grasp on each other's hands so that Nick could retrieve it and then they found their places looking across the table at CSI Sanders and Detective Cavaliere.

The detective watched the three of them settle into their seats with a bemused smirk. He remained standing with his arms crossed over his chest saying "Uhh… he isn't staying." He motioned towards CSI Stokes with his chin during his snide remark.

"Yes, he is," Nicco replied in a very firm tone.

Cavaliere uncrossed his arms and attempted to look even taller in his place. Nicco had grown up with more than one older brother, so his peacocking didn't faze her at all. In fact, she had to fight hard not to start to laugh. Nick saw that Nicco's strong exterior was starting to crack at the seams, so he reached over and grabbed her right hand. She startled minutely before she turned her eyes to look at him. He squeezed her hand and very subtly shook his head. She instantly understood what he was cautioning her not to do. She didn't want the detective to be alerted to their non-verbal conversation, so she just squeezed his hand in return to let him know she was going to behave, sort of.

Nicco then turned her eyes back towards Detective Cavaliere to once again state as firmly as she could, "He stays."

"No, he goes. He isn't a CSI on this case, so he doesn't have to be here," Detective Cavaliere countered. "More than that, I don't want him in here while I interrogate you."

Nick made the most minute movement to stand up, so Nicco tugged on his hand to keep him in his place as she looked Cavaliere in the eye to reply, "First, this is an interview, not an interrogation. I have neither been arrested, nor charged with anything in connection to the murder that took place. We both know that I'm here of my own accord and I can leave just as easily."

Greg bit his lip to keep from laughing because watching Nicco put Cavaliere in his place was more than entertaining. Nick tried his best not to look as surprised as he had felt. He knew that Nicco had been to college and excelled at her studies, but to hear her speak like… that. Well, he couldn't wait to have another minute alone with her to let her know how proud he was of her.

Detective Cavaliere bristled in his place and then replied in a snide tone that bordered on being unprofessional, "Even if that's true, I don't want him here so he goes."

"Because it's true, I say again, if he goes, I leave too," Nicco countered in a tone that her bloodshot, puffy eyes wanted to betray. "I haven't requested legal counsel, I have allowed you to search everywhere you please with my permission and signed endorsement. I have been give you a lot of concessions and all that I ask is to have an ally in the room with me while we have a conversation. After all of my give, I don't think it's too much to ask you to take a seat and continue with your questions and not let Nicky here ruffle your feathers."

"He doesn't ruffle my anything," Detective Cavaliere retorted snidely, but he did take a seat so Nicco claimed that as a victory. He threw down another file folder then said, "Alright Miss Radisson, I think we should start…"

"Wait!" Nicco cried out as she dropped Nick's hand. "Wait… please! Before we continue can I please have another minute alone with CSI Stokes? Please? Just a minute."

"Three pleases in one plea," he replied sounding pensive. "No, sorry you two have had enough time to play kissy face in here."

Nicco's cheeks turned a truly embarrassed shade of red while Nick just saw red. He stood up violently from his chair, knocking it over, as he shouted, "How dare you say that to her! Especially after what she's been through today! You're out of line Cavaliere and I'm going to see to it that Nicco puts in a complaint so that they take away your badge."

"Oh really now?!" Cavaliere challenged as he too stood up. "And what about you Stokes? What do you think Ecklie will do to a CSI who makes a move on a rape victim in an interview room!?"

"What? You are just…"

"ENOUGH!" Nicco interrupted as she too stood up so that she could push Nick back towards his seat. "Nick! Sit!" She barely cast a glance over her shoulder to say, "You… well do whatever the fuck you want, which I'm sure you're used to doing anyway. And you…" She paused to pass a glance at Greg to say, "Well you just keep being the most mature one in the room."

She knew that would get a reaction from Nick, so she wasn't surprised when she heard him snort in a laugh as he picked up his chair. She didn't want to be looking at Cavaliere during this part of the conversation, so she sat down on the table so that the only face she could see was Nick's. He finally sat down because he wanted to know where all of this was leading and Nicco looked like she was ready to tell him exactly that.

"I know you heard him. My name now is 'Nicolette Radisson'. While I've been working on my graduate studies I've been going by the nickname 'Cole'." She paused as Nick rolled his eyes like she knew that he would because he had always disliked that nickname for her. She gave him a soft smile and then turned her eyes as if she was going to look at the detective as she continued, "I'm sure you wanted to start with the fact that 'Nicolette Radisson' didn't exist, technically or on paper, four years ago. You think that has something to do with why you found a pimp dead in a hotel room where I was staying, but I assure you Detective Cavaliere that it has absolutely nothing to do with that at all."

"Fine," Cavaliere replied as he sat down. He stared at the back of her head and tried to sound as condescending as possible when he said, "Miss Radisson, why don't you enlighten us as to why you changed your name on everything from your Government issued ID to your college transcripts so abruptly that one would be lead to believe that you were trying to hide something."

"Or got married," Greg added, speaking for the first time since he re-entered the room.

Nicco actually turned her head so that she could see the younger CSI out of the corner of her eye. "Actually Mister Sanders, that was what I was hoping everyone would assume, but feel too uncomfortable to ask about. But you're right…" She held up her left hand to show it to the room. "No ring and no tan line. I didn't get married. If you asked my friends and family, they would say that I spend way too much time with my nose stuck in a book to be able to ever notice that a suitable match was even in the same room."

That comment earned her a half smile from Nick, but that action flashed one of his dimples so she felt content. She leaned forward and lifted Nick's left arm to look at his watch before saying, "Look, my painkillers are wearing off. I'm starting to feel exhausted from this day's toll and y mini-breakdown in here." She then stood up and moved so that she could look at all three men to ask, "So before my body decides to shut down completely and just give into my injuries and cease to let my adrenaline to keep me going, can you let me tell my brother why I abandoned the family name without any interruptions? I promise that I'll stay here and after I've gotten some sleep and food, I'll answer any other questions you have for me Detective."

Cavaliere shrugged and then motioned for her to continue. She gave him a soft smile because she knew that wasn't actually an agreement to her terms. But she did sputter out a laugh when she saw that CSI Sanders had put up his hand as if he had a question while he was in class.

Nicco shook her head and chuckled so he took it as a go ahead to ask his question. "But I thought that Nick…"

"She's adopted Greg. When I went away to college my mom felt the empty nest syndrome, so…"

"When she heard about my story, she and Dad rescued me." Nicco caught the look on her brother's face so she added, "You know it's true. I never had to go from foster home to foster home like most kids and it was thanks to Mom and Dad. And… and that actually helps me to explain the name change. Nicky, you know how I told you that I wasn't welcome home for the Fourth of July party because Mom and I had a huge fight?"

"No… Nicco…" He sighed out.

"Yeah, this is why. Okay, the long and short is that when I was working on one of my last papers to finish off my Criminology Degree, I had been using a case about a woman that had been murdered by her husband as my starting point. He had actually taken the time to trash their small two-bedroom house to make it look like she had interrupted a BNE in progress. What he hadn't planned on wat that Forensic Science would prove there were no unexplainable fingerprints, fibers or well anything else that could point to a suspect other than the husband. My… our parents were really happy about my enthusiasm at first, but then after I was done my finals, Mom read the story. She immediately recognized the names and then told me my paper had been turned in so I should stop obsessing about it. I tried for moths to get her to tell me why she had reacted that way. She…"

"She even got me to call you to tell you that the killer was found and died in a shootout with police, so you should drop it," Nick cut in with an apologetic tone.

Nicco gave him a sad smile then said, "And don't think she I didn't have a huge screaming match about that either. But in the end it was helpful because I finally wore her down and she told me the truth. The article was about my parents… well my biological parents. That fall I spent a semester abroad while I was supposed to decide what I wanted to do for my graduate studies. But… Mom and Dad didn't know that I had already decided on Forensic Sciences… While I was out of country it hit me what I could do to make the puzzle complete."

She and Nick made very direct eye contact as he said, "But their last name was…"

Nicco once again sat on the table in front of Nick and picked up one of his hands as she cut-in, "It's my mom's… uhh… my biological mother's maiden name. It just felt like a proper way to honor her memory since she was the inspiration for me figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life. Mom still thinks I chose Forensics to spite her so that I can emulate my… emulate you since we had been the closest out of all of her kids while I was growing up." He gave her a disapproving look so she added, "It's true. She… she was convinced that I was going to become a high powered lawyer just like… like…"

Suddenly every word she tried to utter was cut off by a series of coughs. That had been the longest that she had spoken during the day and she was quickly feeling the results of it and her exhaustion. Nick reached up to take her hand, but he didn't look like he knew how to help her. Greg on the other hand remembered what Catherine had told him, so he got up and quickly left the room again.

Nick tired his best to help Nicco to calm her breathing but soon her every breath came out in painful gasps. When she moved her hands up to her throat and legitimately looked like she was having troubles getting oxygen into her lungs, Cavaliere actually jumped into action. He was fine with badgering a suspect with harsh questions until they broke, but he wasn't looking to get an in custody injury or death any time soon. Not that he had arrested Nicolette. He cracked a smile at how she had reminded him that she hadn't been arrested as he opened a bottle of cold water.

Nicco took the bottle gratefully, but her hand was shaking so had that she couldn't pour any of the liquid into her mouth. Nick quickly noticed the troubles she was having, so he claimed the bottle from her. He managed to get some water into her mouth, but when she tried to swallow it, it didn't want to go down. Much like when she had fist woken up, the cold water had the complete opposite effect to soothing her damaged throat.

Once she got that liquid doe, Nick tried to help her again, but Nicco swatted at his hands to knock the bottle away with a barely audible, "No… no more… please, no…"

Nick took a hold of her arm and was prepared to pull her down onto his lap to force more liquids into her as he said, "Nicco, you really need…"

"Something warm to drink to calm down your throat," Greg finished for his colleague. "Here you go Nicco. It's just warm water since your stomach hasn't been doing so well. Remember, cold on the outside, warm on the inside to help your throat heal."

Nick stared at his little sister then asked, "You've been having stomach issues since getting out of hospital?"

"Nicky," she rasped out as she sipped at the cup Greg had given her. "I've thrown up a grand total of once since… since I found out what happened."

"Okay tough guy, you're right… that isn't that bad," Nick teased with a laugh. "But I think you were right; you've probably reached your limit for today." He then turned to the Detective then nearly pleaded, "Look, Greg's here form Days, I'm here for Nights… that's a long day for anyone, but… well look at Nicco. It's been extra-long for her. From what I've heard she has been more than cooperative with minimal complaints. If I promise to bring her back here tomorrow, can we call it a night so that we can fill her prescriptions, get some food into her and let her get some rest?"

For a second Cavaliere looked like he was going to disagree, likely out of spite, but then he saw something interesting out in the hallway. There he saw a uniformed officer walking with a fairly large box in his hands. He recognized him as the man that he had handed over the consent form that Nicco had signed, so he instead answered, "Sure, why not? Whenever she's awake and ready to answer some more questions for me, give me a call."

Nicco continued to sip at her cup while glaring at the Detective for talking about her like she wasn't even there as he left the room. She hated when people did that to her. Admittedly it hadn't really happened any tie other than the parties she attended with her parents whenever one of their colleagues had started to brag about their children's accomplishments. Since she was ten years younger than their youngest biological child, Nick, she usually ended up being their poster child for their good parenting. They would go on and on about how she was heading to Texas A&M like her siblings and she was headed there on a full academic scholarship. They would then drone on about her dedication to academics while she stood by trying not to laugh at them because she knew they didn't truly believe that. They thought she was a party girl who had somehow gotten lucky when it came to getting into college. She knew this because they had shipped her off for more than one Spring Break to her cop brother to straighten her out after they had caught her coming home from a party smelling like marijuana and beer. Of course Nick, the brother tasked with putting her back on the straight and narrow, knew that she had never ingested more than a couple of beers at the parties and never touched drugs. But that was only because he had actually taken the time to ask her about it instead of making assumptions like their parents always did.

Greg caught the look on her face then thrust his right hand forward saying, "Nicco, it was nice to meet you… uhh… even though the circumstances suck. Nick's told us about his plethora of siblings, but you're the first one I've actually met."

"Alright Greggo…" Nick tried to interrupt.

"No, I swear I'll be quick," Greg protested. "I just want to say, now I get why Nick thinks he's so cool. Nicco, you have been a rock star today. I'll try to make sure that Cavaliere doesn't get his stink all over your stuff that was brought in from our dorm room."

Nicco smiled and tried to thank Greg, but Nick inadvertently cut her off by asking, "The officer with the box that Cavaliere followed…"

"Like a puppy?" Greg supplied with a cheeky grin. "Yeah, he was one of the ones who was tasked with searching Nicco's room."

Nick placed a hand on her cheek then said with a tone of concern, "Wait for me here, okay Baby Girl? I'll be right back."

She had barely gotten out her 'okay' before she was watching Nick disappear out the door. She then turned her eyes towards Greg and realized that she hadn't been able to reply to his last comment.

"Thanks, Mister Sanders," she said with a slightly less raspy voice.

"Hey, I've been able to switch over to your real nickname," he teased with a smile. "Please feel free to call me Greg."

"Alright… Greg… Do you have a pen and paper?"

"Sure," he answered sounding confused as he passes a pend and small notepad towards her.

Nicco slid both of them closer to her and quickly wrote something down. After she was done, she placed the pen on top of the notepad and pushed it back across the table towards him. Greg thought maybe she had written down her digits or something equally salacious, so he frowned when he saw what she had actually scrolled on the paper.

She saw his reaction and managed to cough out a laugh. Nicco turned the notepad around so he could more easily read: 007!-rOd02.

Greg still looked confused, so Nicco explained, "It's my password for my computer and a couple of protected documents. I would rather you go through my files than Detective Douche."

"Oh! Yeah, I can do that." He looked down at what she had written again and quietly read the digits of the password aloud. It still didn't make sense to him so he looked up at her to ask, "Okay, double oh seven is James Bond, but…"

Nicco snorting in a laugh that caused her to cough and him to look at her worriedly. She waved her hand and then said, "I'll tell you if you promise not to say a word to Nick."

"I promise," Greg pledged quickly as he saw Nick making his way back to the interview room.

"I've had a crush on Ivan Rodriguez since I as in high school," Nicco explained between sips of her warm water. "His jersey number was seven when he was with the Texas Rangers, his position is catcher, number two, and his nickname is 'I-Rod'. I know it sounds weird. Trust me I hate that nickname for him as much as Nick hates that I love baseball more than football."

Greg let out a laugh then replied, "Okay, I totally get that. I promise your secret is safe with me."

"What secret?" Nick asked as he walked through the door.

Nicco almost looked panicked so Greg replied, "Oh it's nothing. We just learned that Nicco is definitely the smarter sibling. Sorry."

For a brief second Nicco was worried that Nick might be angry, but he laughed and then said, "Well I guess that I'll just have to be content with being the pretty one."

Nicco stood up and half-heartedly punched at Nick's bicep saying, "If that's what helps you sleep at night."

He just stroked his hand from the top of her head down to her arm with a far off look as he replied, "Only if it means you'll do the same later today."

Suddenly her throat felt tight, but it had nothing to do with her injuries. She tried to whisper out his name, but she couldn't force it out of her damaged throat. Greg understood what was happening so he made his way towards the door saying, "I'll call you tomorrow Nick if I have any other questions. Sorry Nicco, but I know your phone is still in a box of evidence from the hotel room, so the easiest way to reach you is through Nick."

Nicco smiled at his thoughtfulness to explain his rationale as she replied, "Thanks Greg. I'll see you tomorrow… maybe." After Greg left the room, Nicco caught the look on Nick's face. She shrugged then said, "What? He said that I could call him that."

"I'm sure he did. Anyway, here," Nick replied as he passed her a plastic bag that looked like it was slightly over stuffed. "I thought you would be more comfortable wearing that."

Nicco took the bag and placed it on the table. After she pulled the first item out, she dropped it back onto the table top and turned to look at Nick. He couldn't help but to smile because it wasn't often that he was able to surprise her.

"The officer saw them at the foot of your bed," he explained as he repacked the bag. "He thought you'd like to have some of your own clothes. I also talked to Catherine and your luggage from the hotel room are no longer considered evidence, so it's going to be released to you when you leave."

He started to lead her out of the room and Nicco sounded somewhat dazed when she replied, "Really? Are you for real?"

"As real as the fact that you totally stole my sweatshirt the last time you stay at my place in Dallas," he teased.

Nicco stopped and gave him wide eyes, so he wrapped his arm around her shoulders saying, "I'm not mad at you, Baby Girl. I saw it in your room when I visited for your high school graduation. You're still so tiny that you must be swimming in it."

"That's why it's so comfortable when I'm studying," she explained as she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. "Thank you for getting them for me."

"You're welcome Nicco. Now why don't you go change and then wait for me by the restrooms?"

"Okay, but where are you going?"

"I need to go and quickly talk to Gris to see if I can take my break now along with some banked time so that I can get you to a pharmacy and get some food into you."

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Nicco, of course I would… am. Now go get changed and I'll be over there in a couple of minutes."

"Okay."

Nicco started to walk away, but she stopped abruptly to run back and wrap him in a strong hug.

"Thanks again Nicky," she said into his chest. "I love you."

He leaned down and kissed her head then said against her hair, "I love you too."


	4. Chapter 4

After she had slipped on the oversized, marooned colored kangaroo style hoody with a large, white "ATM" logo on it along with a pair of grey sweatpants' capris with elastic cuffs that kept the legs just a few inches from the knees, Nicco sat down and waited for Nick by the doors to the restroom. She had tried to fold the top and pants that the nurse had loaned her, but as soon as she put them in the plastic bag they had unfolded themselves. Even though she tried not to let it bother her, it got under her skin that they were now just a purple mass in the bag instead of being neatly folded, so she tied the bag closed so that she wouldn't have to look at it.

 _Quit being so O.C.D!_ Nicco mentally chastised herself as she threw the bag onto the floor at her feet.

Although she knew it was an odd thing to obsess about, she couldn't help but to feel a little relieved that she was doing it. For her it was a natural reaction to circumstances such as this. She then took it as a good sign that whatever had happened to her in the last twenty-four hours hadn't really changed her all that much. Or at least hadn't changed who she was at her core. Well, at least she hoped it was.

She let out a silent groan as she lowered her head into her lap. Now that her hair was fully dry, it had become somewhat unruly, so it flopped over her head and almost touched the ground. She kept her face nearly pressed against her knees as she raised her hands to try to get her hair out of her face. After she had bundled it up into a loose bun, the fingers of her right hand touched her left wrist. When she was at home or in her dorm she had made it a habit to wear hair elastics around her wrists because she never knew how she would feel about her hair while she was working on a paper. At times, like when she was pacing, she liked to have it loose so that she could run her fingers through it nervously. Other times she got so annoyed by it that she had to hide any scissors in her dorm room so that she wouldn't do something regrettable. Hence, the tendency to wear hair elastics on her wrist.

Although she wasn't aware of doing it, Nicco must have made some sort of noise of complaint because she heard Catherine say, "Here Cole, this should help."

Nicco quickly let go of her hair and looked up from her lap. Her hair flopped all over the place, including in front of her face, and completely obstructed her view. She swiftly finger combed it back so that she could look up at Catherine's face.

As she took the hair elastic from the CSI and twisted her hair up again, she replied, "It does and it doesn't." Catherine gave her a quizzical look causing Nicco to laugh and then clarify, "Sorry, that only made sense to me. When my hair is like this, I usually like to pull it back, so this does help. But in the next breath, having my hair down helps to cover up my new souvenirs and makes it harder for me to see all of the weird looks people are giving me."

Catherine gave her a sympathetic smile and sat down beside her saying, "I can understand that. It's a catch twenty-two. But, my unsolicited advice?"

Nicco smiled answering, "You've been around all of this longer than me, so… yes, please."

"I say do whatever makes you the most comfortable. You're a survivor, so you shouldn't feel ashamed about your bruises."

"Survivor? I like that," the younger woman answered as she once again pulled her hair back into a bun.

"But if the looks still bother you, you can always play turtle and hide in this big ol' hoody of yours."

Nicco laughed then said, "I know it's ginormous, but that's part of its charm. I can't tell you how many times I've tucked my knees up into it and pulled the hood over my head to catch a nap in the library."

"Well that does sound cozy. I guess it makes sense why you bought it so many sizes larger than you would normally wear." Catherine watched as Nicco's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. "Oh… or why'd you'd steal it away from a boyfriend."

"No boyfriend," Nicco replied with her eyes focused on someone or something down the hall.

Catherine turned to follow her gaze to realize that Nicco had an unobstructed view into their supervisor's, Gil Grissom, office. "Nick? You stole that from Nick? Oh… wait, Greg told me something about this. Nick? He's your brother?"

"Yeah, technically," Nicco replied before she turned her attention back to the woman with whom she was speaking. "His parents adopted me when I was eight. He had already gone off to college, so I didn't see him all that much until I was a bit older. Since all of his siblings are even older… uhh older than him, I saw most of them even less."

"But you and Nicky became close?"

"As close as you can be with someone a decade older than yourself. Once I reached adulthood we started talking on the phone on a more frequent basis, but most of the time it's just me pestering him to help me with stuff for school. You know, like what classes I should take so that I can have all of the proper training and education to be a CSI."

"I'm sure it's more than that."

Nicco diverted her gaze to the floor as another embarrassed blush colored her cheeks while she also mumbled, "Yeah… maybe."

Catherine smiled to herself at how young Nicco looked in her hoody that practically swallowed her whole. She could tell that he younger woman was embarrassed by the CSI's gentle teasing, which proved to her how close Nicco truly was to her older brother. If there actually had of been that much distance between the two of them then she knew she would see a harder kind of indifference in Nicco's eyes when she looked at her brother. Instead she saw an open, vulnerable look of love and near adoration that she had seen so many people with healthy (well healthier than her own) relationships with their family.

But finding out about their relationship wasn't why she had stopped to chat with Nicco. Ever since Greg had started rambling on about who 'Cole Radisson' really was, Catherine had had a couple of questions eating away at her brain that she really wanted answered.

"So, we asked you if you had any family in Las Vegas and you said that you didn't. But then Greg finds me and tells me about Nick… and here you are… wearing his sweatshirt. Why is that Cole? Oh… wait… What was it that Greg said Nicky had called you...?"

"Nicco," the younger woman replied. Nicco sat up straighter and turned so that she could look Catherine in the eyes more easily. "My friends in high school and my family call me 'Nicco'. We already had a 'Nicky' in the family, so that wouldn't work for me. I've always been a Tomboy and I had always wanted a more androgynous nickname, so I changed it when I went away to college. Plus, I thought that having a more masculine nickname would help me to blend in when I started working in a male dominated industry."

"Yeah, I can see the logic there, but…"

"I didn't say that I didn't have family in Las Vegas," Nicco cut in knowing that she couldn't stall that answer much longer. Catherine gave her a disapproving look and seemed like she was going to start an argument, so Nicco quickly added, "I didn't! When Detective Cavaliere asked who he could call, what family I had in town, I said that I didn't have any family who lived locally that I wanted you to call right then. You two made the assumption that I had no family here and therefore wouldn't want them to be contacted at a later date or time."

For a second Catherine looked like she was still going to argue with her, but then she paused and gave Nicco's words some serious thought. After she had replayed that conversation through her mind more than once, she shook her head and softly chuckled to herself.

"Alright, you might have me there. But, it looks to me like you and Nick are pretty close, why wouldn't you want us to call him?"

"I couldn't fully remember where we were in his rotation, so I didn't want to bother him if he was sleeping or working. What happened to me was being investigated by people he had told me he would trust his life with, so there really wasn't anything he could do, so why bother him at all?"

"I'm sure he would never consider being with you for emotional support as a bother."

"That's true, but I… I still wasn't sure if… umm… if I was just a victim. Y'know that I hadn't…?" Nicco paused and took in a deep breath and then forced herself to calmly state, "I didn't want him to hear that I might have killed the man who raped me from anyone but me. It kind of felt like something he shouldn't hear from someone else."

"So you had a plan for what you were going to tell him?"

Nicco snorted in a laugh and instantly regretted that because it irritated her throat so badly. Thankfully this time she didn't start coughing, so she was still able to speak.

"No, no plan Ms. Willows. I was actually hoping to put it off long enough that all of my bruises would be gone, or at least super faded, before I even thought about broaching the subject with him."

Catherine once again looked completely surprised, so Nicco added, "It isn't exactly the easiest topic of conversation to bring up with someone. I figure that the right words would come to me when it was the right time and then I'd be able to tell him all about it. Thank the good Lord above that they did or this whole me being at his place of work would have gotten super awkward super quick."

"I'm sure that it would," Catherine replied with another soft chuckle. "And I know sometimes it can be hard to talk to someone, especially of the opposite sex about the aftermath of an assault like yours, so…" She paused to pass a small white card to Nicco. "Here's my card. My cell number is on the back if you need someone to talk to about anything."

Nicco took the card and appeared completely speechless. At first Catherine thought that she might have overwhelmed her, but then she realized that Nicco wasn't looking at her. She turned her head and noticed that Nick was making his way down the hall towards them. She somehow knew that he wasn't the reason that the younger woman was rendered silent. No, she instinctively knew it was the man that as half a step behind Nick that had been the more likely reason that Nicco wasn't saying anything else.

Catherine then reached over and gave Nicco's hand a comforting squeeze. "Don't forget to call if you need me. But don't worry, Gil looks a lot scarier than he actually is."

Nicco's eyes flicked to the other woman's face when she heard Catherine's teasing tone. Catherine gave her another comforting smile, but then she just stood up and simply left without another word. Nicco felt like she should be calmed by everything Catherine said since the CSI had sounded so confident and easy-going, but she couldn't help her unconscious, negative reaction.

Nick and Gil watched Catherine leave, but neither of them commented on her departure. Instead Nick said to his sister, "Nicco? I'd like to introduce you to my Supervisor, Gil Grissom."

Nicco quickly stood up and pulled back her right sleeve so that her hand was clearly visible without remembering to care about her bruises. Gil took it with an amused smile as he greeted her saying, "Miss Radisson, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Nicco placed her left hand over his right hand as she reverently replied, "It is an absolute honor to meet you Dr. Grissom. I… I just wish it was under better… err… other circumstances."

"As do I, Miss Radisson," he responded with the same polite smile he had been wearing since she met him. "But there will be other chances for us to speak at length after tonight."

"Really? You mean that?" She questioned hoping that she hadn't misunderstood to what he was referring.

Gil's smile morphed into a look of empathetic comfort as he responded, "Yes, Miss Radisson, I do. I just wanted you to know that from what I have heard from CSI Sanders there should be no issues for your eligibility due to this incident."

Nicco's eyes remained securely fixed on Gil's face, so she missed the questioning look Nick was giving both of them. Gil had caught it early on, so he tried to make his comments as vague as possible because he didn't want to disclose something sensitive to Nick that she didn't want him to know.

"Seriously? It won't?" Nicco questioned like she was in complete disbelief.

"No, it won't," Gil reassured her in a calm, serene tone. "Again, we can discuss that at a later date. First, I think you should follow Nick's advice and have something to eat before trying to get some rest."

Nicco nodded her head enthusiastically and answered, "Yes, Sir, I will. Thank you again for letting me know about… uhh… that. I-it's been great meeting you, Sir."

"As it was to meet you." Gil then turned to Nick and said, "Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow night Nicky. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything at all."

"I will Gris. Thanks again."

Gil then turned and made his way back towards his office. Nicco watched him as if she was in a trance and Nick watched her with a confused frown. There was a huge piece of the puzzle that he was missing when it came to him understanding his sister's life. When he first realized it was actually Nicco in the interview room, he had thought something bad had happened while she was on a weekend vacation in Las Vegas. That thought was quickly derailed by hearing that an officer had returned to the station with a box of her belongings from her dorm room.

 _What the heck is going on with you Nicco?_ He thought to himself.

That was the number one question that he was going to get her to answer, but first he needed to take care of her. He hadn't had to exaggerate to Cavaliere about Nicco's condition because she really was looking exhausted and in near desperate need of a good meal. Plus, he couldn't stop thinking about her injuries and how they needed to get her antibiotics sooner than later to keep something worse from happening.

Nicco watched Nick with a worried look on her face. After Doctor Grissom left them, she expected Nick to start questioning her right away about what they had said. Instead he remained quiet and looked like he was lost in thought. That look on any of her family members' faces usually didn't bode well for her, so Nicco decided to remain silent while she waited for Nick to tear a new strop off of her for hiding so many things from him.

"Okay, so we'll go and get your luggage from property and then I think we should go to a pharmacy. That way you can eat while we wait for your prescriptions to be filled," he finally explained as he picked up the tied plastic bag from the floor.

Nick took a couple of steps towards their next destination, but he stopped when he realized that Nicco wasn't following him. He turned and found her standing beside the chairs, hands tucked deep into her long sleeves, looking like she was fighting off the desire to cry.

He then moved quickly to her side and quietly asked, "Nicco? What's wrong?"

"I…" She quietly said as she stepped closer to him. "Are going to a restaurant?"

"That was my plan. Why do you ask?"

"I… it…" She pulled back her sleeves as she tried to regroup to properly answer. "People might think that you did this to me. I don't want you getting blamed for all of this."

Nick wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her into his side. "Don't worry about that, Nicco. Where I'm taking you, they know me well enough that they'll know I had nothing to do with hurting you."

"Oh… okay."

He started back down the hall and her feet immediately started to follow. He sounded so sure that everything was going to be fine that she forced herself to believe it too while she tried to relax against him. He had never purposefully steered her in the wrong direction before, so she had no reason to start doubting him now.

"Don't worry Nicco, we'll get some food into you, you'll take your meds and then I'll take you home to get some rest."

After the last part of his comment hit her ears, Nicco froze mid-step. Her stopping was so abrupt that Nick actually stumbled when she slipped out of his hold.

He looked back at her and immediately noticed the terrified look on her face. He almost asked her, for what felt like the hundredth time in the matter of hours, what was wrong, but then he saw Catherine in a room down the hall talking to their coworkers. Seeing her jogged his memory and he quickly mentally kicked himself.

"Nicco," he called out softly as he once again wrapped her in a hug. "When I said 'home', I meant my place. I can understand why you don't feel comfortable going back to your dorm yet. You can stay with me for as long as you want to, okay?"

Nicco hugged him tightly and replied into his chest, "Thank you! You're the best!"

Nick laughed to himself then stated, "Don't you ever forget that."

ONCE THEY WERE SETTLED in a booth, near the back of the restaurant away from the usual crowd, and had their meals ordered, Nick and Nicco sipped at their mugs of hot beverages just staring at each other. Nicco could almost read the questions running through his mind, but she didn't want to be the one who broke their silence first. She wanted to wait for him to ask his questions so that she would be able to try to tell him everything in the order that he thought that it was important and not what she considered to be the primary topics for them to cover.

Nick on the other hand remained silent so that he could watch his little sister away from a crowd. Since she was the youngest of their family, she had quickly learned how to play the part that she thought that everyone wanted her to embody. That meant that she would put on a brave face and swallowed back her true feelings so that she would be perceived as being older and more mature. When she was a teenager he was the sole sibling that she had allowed herself to open up to because she had been worried so much about how her other siblings would judge her. Even their parents were guilty of placing unrealistic expectations on Nicco. When she hit the age of thirteen they would no longer allow her to behave 'like a child' and had expected her to think and act like an adult. To behave in any other way, like drinking at parties with her friends during her high school years, hadn't been tolerated and therefore was dealt with swiftly and, what they perceived as being, severely.

So here he sat watching her and trying to remind himself not to sound like their parents when he finally did question her. That would have been the number one way to get her to shut down, which would be completely counter-productive to reaching his ultimate end goal.

"Nicco?" He started in a soft voice. "Are you enrolled at UNLV?" She nodded her head, but no move to speak at all. "Okay. How long have you been going there?"

It looked like she attempted to savor a couple more sips of her tea while she formulated her reply. In reality she was stalling her response for all that it was worth. She knew that anyway that she worded it, Nick was going to be hurt by her answer, so she wanted to soften the blow as much as possible. Nick might look like a big, rough and tumble Texan, but she knew that inside he was actually just a big Teddy Bear. He could be wounded easily and once you damaged your relationship with him, it could be damned near impossible to repair.

"I started my graduated studies there… last fall," she answered staring down at her mug of tea. Nicco moved only her eyes so that she was looking at him through her eyelashes as she added, "I moved into my dorm at the end of last August."

A profound look of sadness and longing flashed into Nick's eyes before he said, "Eight months? You've been living here for eight months?"

"I was going to tell you," Nicco countered in the same timid tone as she was previously using.

Nick didn't hide that he didn't believe her and nearly snapped out an angry, "Oh yeah? When were…?"

"Here you go, you two," their waitress cut Nick off, possibly by accident. Only she knew that it wasn't.

Nicco pulled her bowl of chicken noodle soup closer to her with a very quiet 'thanks'.

Nick seemingly ignored his food, but he tied to sound cordial than he had to his sister when he said, "Thank you, Joyce."

"You are very welcome, Sugars," she replied in a thick Southern drawl. As she walked away she fixed Nick with a stern, motherly look and added, "Y'all call me if I can bring you anything else."

Nick could hear the unspoken list of things she would bring him like an attitude adjustment or a swift kick in the behind. He knew she didn't think he had been the person who had hurt Nicco, but he also knew Joyce that that he should be showing the injured woman more compassion. He hadn't anticipated using anything but a comforting and loving tone during their meal, but Nicco's answer had thrown him off so much that all of the promises he had made to himself were quickly forgotten.

Nicco completely ignored their server as soon as the aromas of her soup hit her nose. During her time spent in the interview room, she had become so overwhelmed by the revelations about her roommate and their weekend getaway that she had forgotten that she should be hungry. Now that she could smell the rich, comforting aroma of her soup, her hunger pains refused to be ignored. Her stomach let out a loud growl, so she started shoveling spoon-full after spoon-full into her mouth so quickly that it was almost obscene. Nick nearly laughed to himself when thought how their mother would call her behavior unladylike. Then he quickly remembered why Nicco was feeling so famished and why chicken noodle soup was one of the only foods that she could stomach right now.

That last thought wiped the small smile off his face. He still wanted to go into full 'bad cop' mode with her to get the truth, but he knew he couldn't. Instead he forced himself to keep his tone less severe and slightly humorous when he asked, "So that phone call to me would have come when, Nicco? Just before your graduation? Or after it so that we could celebrate together?"

Nicco froze at hearing Nick's questions. His tone had been lighthearted-ish and kind of playful, but his words still stung her. She swallowed her mouthful of liquid and it actually looked like it had hurt while that liquid was going down.

"No, Nicky," she replied in a raspy voice. "I was actually hoping to call you with some good news after my finals."

Nick couldn't help but to frown as he said, "Okay… and would you care to elaborate on that…? Please?"

After letting out a heavy sigh, Nicco placed her spoon on the table top and pushed her bowl away. Nick saw her give her food her version of the 'Elvis lip curl', which he knew meant that she had lost her appetite. He instantly felt guilty that she was no longer able to eat because he also knew that she really needed the nourishment so that her body could heal.

He almost told her to just forget about it, but then Nick notice that she had made an effort to sit up taller in her place and was trying to look more confident.

"I was expecting you to ask about the conversation I had with Dr. Grissom long before now," she explained staring at her hands. Nick opened his mouth to reply, but Nicco continued because she refused to look at him so she didn't see his reaction. "I applied for the internship that usually becomes available during summer break. That was what Dr. Grissom referenced when he said that this… uhh… that my eligibility isn't in jeopardy."

Nick reached across the table to tack Nicco's hand as he replied, "Oh Baby Girl, that's great. The internship thing, that is. But from what little Gil could tell me, Greg seems more than confident that you had nothing to do with the D.B. in your hotel suite."

"Really?" Nicco tried to sound light-hearted and teasing so that she could banish her desire to cry. "So does that mean that he's been paying a bit more attention to his work than trying to find the best gel to keep his hair spiked up?"

Nick barked out a laugh that caused more than one of the other patrons to give him a surprised look. He turned his next laugh into a cough and smiled into his fist saying, "I forgot what a good listener you are."

"To be fair," Nicco countered with her own chuckle. "That trait is usually dependent on the topic and who's lecturing me."

The right side of his mouth pulled back to deepen the dimple in his cheek as he chuckled and said, "Yeah, that most definitely is true." After they shared one of their patented smiles that they always shared behind their mother's back whenever she had tried to lecture them about something they found to be trivial. Nick's smile then morphed into a pensive look before he asked, "So the internship? Is that why you moved to Nevada?"

"Partially," Nicco replied without a moment's hesitation. Before Nick could question her further or refocus his attention on that answer she continued, "I figured that if I was local that it might make my application look more appealing. But the more that I've learned about Dr. Grissom, the more I know that I was wrong."

"What do you mean, Baby Girl?" He asked in an even softer tone as he reached over to hold her hand once again.

Nicco smiled to herself because she had always loved hearing Nick use that term of endearment for her. When she first moved in with the Stokes' they had told her she could choose whichever room in the house that she wanted. Since she was so young, Nicco had still been feeling really confused about not being able to go home so she picked the first bedroom they passed on the second floor of their house. As it turned out, that was the room that the Stokes' youngest son had vacated just few months before her arrival. That hadn't been an issue for any of them, plus Nicco was such a Tomboy that she hadn't even asked for them to make any changes, but then Nick came home for Christmas and felt slighted by his room being given away so quickly. Initially he was livid with his parents, but he quickly swallowed that back when he came face to face with the blue eyed thief with brown pigtails. After that he knew that the only thing she was guilty of was stealing his heart. She even offered to let him have his room back while he visited, so they shared it for part of his time there, which was the starting point for them being so close.

Nick gave her a cheeky half grin because he knew that Nicco always smiled whenever he called her 'Baby Girl'. He always assumed that it was because she felt warm and protected whenever he reminded her that her big brother was by her side. He had never asked her about her secret smile that she only gave him when he used that name, but Nicco probably would have given him that same answer.

Nicco shrugged then replied, "I think the only thing that will sway Dr. Grissom's vote is knowledge. Thankfully my transcripts are flawless."

"That's true," Nick agreed with a chuckle. "So you said 'partially'. What were your other reasons that brought you to Las Vegas?"

"Well… your crime lab is known as one of the best in the country," Nicco explained without making eye contact. "And UNLV has some programs that are partnered with the Crime Lab, so it seemed like a smart choice."

"That definitely makes sense."

"Plus…"

Nicco shook her head and picked up her spoon to move the noodles around in her bowl. Nick watched her for a couple of breaths because he thought that she was going to start eating again. If she had her appetite back, he was willing to pause their conversation while she ate some more.

But Nicco didn't make any moves to lift the spoon to her mouth, so he squeezed her hand and tried prompting her by asking, "Plus what, Nicco?"

She placed the spoon against the side of her bowl and turned to look at him. She once again looked so scared and unsure that Nick almost told her once again to forget about it.

"Alright Nicky, if I tell you this you have to promise you won't tell anyone." Nick tried to laugh her warning off, so Nicco punched his arm saying more insistently, "I mean it Nick. I don't want to get a reputation for being a stalker or something."

"What?" Nick questioned with a chuckle. That elicited a very stern look from his sister so he forced himself to become more somber as he said, "You know you can tell me anything Nicco, anything at all… Just like always."

Nicco swallowed hard and then nodded her head. "Okay… okay." She forced herself to make eye contact with him while she explained, "I've heard that Dr. Grissom sometimes still does some guest lecturing. Since I'll be taking some entomology courses, I was hoping that I'd be fortunate enough to have him as a guest lecturer. I believe that if you are going to learn about a subject, it might as well be from the best, right?"

"Right. Well, Nicco it sure does sound like you put a lot of time and thought into choosing your school."

"You know what Mom and Dad have always said about tackling a problem from all angles and all."

"Oh… so…?" Nick started as an unsettling thought hit him. "So they… they know where you're… where you're enrolled?"

Nicco could hear the emotion in Nick's voice, so she quickly answered "No! No, they have no idea where I'm studying." Nick gave her a look of disbelief, so she added, "Honestly they don't. After I told them about the name change, Mom and I had that huge fight I told you about. Since my truck was already packed, I told her that I was leaving and that we could trying talking about it again after we had both calmed down. Her parting words to me were that if I was too good to keep the name of the family that loved and cared for me for over fifteen years then I was on my own, totally and completely. We never got to where I was going to school before the screaming match started and I haven't spoken to either of them since then either."

"What? You haven't talked to either Mom of Cisco since last August?"

"Not really. Dad called on Christmas and New Years to wish me happy holidays and to thank me for the Christmas card, but he had to leave voicemails for both of those calls."

"But you've sent them mail, so they would know where you are from the postmark."

Nicco started playing with her food again so that she didn't have to look at Nick as she said, 'Not exactly."

"And what does that mean?"

"I… I sent it when Athena and I did our weekend vacation on the Strip and… uhh… and I might have left Dad a drunken voicemail on his work number, so they probably assumed I was just visiting here."

Nick gave her wide eyes and quietly said, "Nicco, say it ain't so. You didn't really do that, did you?"

"What?" She snapped out defensively. "I've been doing amazing at school and the only person that congratulated me lately on my hard work is a roommate who I apparently know nothing about. So I had too much to drink one night and left Dad a message saying that I knew he didn't care, but that I was on a short list for some exclusive Forensics Programs. I… I thought he'd hear it and call to find out more details, but he didn't." Nicco shrugged and tried not to let her emotions be heard when she added, "But whatever. Mom was super pissed when I told them I wasn't going to Law School, so I don't know why I thought they'd care about all of that now."

"Hey… hey now," Nick replied sympathetically as he wrapped an arm around her to pull her into his side. "You should have called me Nicco. I would have loved to have known you were here. And you know that I'm proud of you for all your hard work at school."

"Nobody was supposed to find out that we were related," she quietly stated into his shoulder.

She felt Nick move as if to release her from his embrace so Nicco wrapped her arms around his waist and burrowed into his side. Once he settled into his place once again, she turned her head and placed her cheek against one of his pecs and added, 'If they thought we were related then I couldn't work on your team, even as an intern, This way if I got the position, I could have come clean and I hoped... well I thought that I could still work with Doctor Grissom and just not go to any scenes that you were working on."

"Weren't you worried that they'd revoke your internship once they found out you were my sister?"

"But I'm not... at least not biologically."

Nicco felt Nick go stiff in her arms, so she sat back so that she could look him in the face while they spoke. "You and I didn't grow up together. Sure we spent some holidays together, but that isn't the same as being in the same house for the majority of our lives. Sure we are close, but I'm sure that you're just as close with Warrick and Catherine and you aren't related to them at all either."

"Wow," Nick whispered when Nicco stopped to catch her breath. "Are you sure you didn't go to Law School? Because I'm pretty sure that Mom and Cisco would be proud of that argument, Counsellor."

Nicco glared at him and moved a couple inches further away from him with her arms now tightly wrapped around her torso. "Like I told Mom and Dad, this is the profession I've chosen, so I want to learn it from the best in the business. The best would be Dr. Grissom and his team, so I've been busting my ass to join his team, even if it is as a lowly intern."

"So? I'm the best?" Nick couldn't help but to ask with a gentle, teasing tone.

Nicco tried to continue to glare at him, but she couldn't quite make it stick. "I believe I said you were part of the best team. Keyword is 'team', Nicky. Ivan might be the best catcher in the league, but he won't win a ring without at least eight other guys on the field with him."

Nick rolled his eyes but before he could give her is stock reply to her dig, she said, "But it isn't like any of that matters now. Even though I'm still eligible, I'm sure Dr. Grissom will have to place my application in the circular file anyway."

Once again she refused to look at him, so Nick swallowed the rest of his sarcastic comments and witty retorts. Instead he softened his tone and said, "I don't think that's true Nicco. Gil wouldn't have come out to reassure you if he was just going to be throwing your application in the garbage. So, you need to eat up so that you can take your meds before you go to bed. We'll rehash all of this sometime in the near future, okay?"

"Oh... okay..." Nicco replied sounding like she wasn't keeping up with his subject change. "But Nicky? I'm not sure I can stomach anymore."

"Nicolette Marie Stokes," Nick stated in a firm tone. "You need to finish that soup... now!"

She gave him wide eyes and then sputtered out a laugh saying, "You know that tone only works for Mom, don't you?"

He watched as she ate a couple of spoonfuls of her meal and then asked, "Oh yeah?"

Nicco saw Nick's smirk and his raised eyebrow, so she shrugged and replied, "Whatever, I'm hungry."

They both laugh and then all of the tension that had been building between them dissipated. Nicco managed to finish her bowlful while Nick picked at his order of fries. It was too early in his shift for him to need a meal, so he had ordered them thinking that after eating her soup that Nicco might be feeling well enough to get something more substantial into her stomach.

As he had predicted she started pulling them off the plate to nibble on them one by one.

"Well looks like someone has a healthy appetite," their server commented as she picked up Nicco's empty bowl. "Can I get either of you anything else?"

"Just the bill please, Joyce," Nick replied.

She smiled and nodded with a cheerful, "Coming right up."

As she watched the older woman walk away, Nicco shoved her hands into the pocket of her hoody and quietly said, "Shit. Nicky I left my wallet in my duffle bag."

Nick already had his wallet out, so he gave Nicco an odd look. She didn't seem to notice it, so Nick said, "Nicco, it's my treat."

"You're sure? Because I can totally pay you back."

Nick rolled his eyes as he pulled out a five and a couple of singles to pass to Joyce when she had returned to their table. "Nicco, buy you a bowl of soup is the least I can do after everything you've been through in the last twenty-four hours."

"He's right, Sugar," Joyce chimed in as she started to walk away. "Just let your boyfriend take care of you."

Nicco gave Nick a surprised look, but he just chuckled then said, "I've been called worse."

AFTER THEY STOPPED AT the pharmacy, Nick drove Nicco back to his place. She insisted on carrying in her own bag while he gave her a quick tour. She then got changed into her pajamas and handed over a basket filled with clothes for Nick to start a load of laundry for her.

"If you want to hit the sack, I won't be offended," Nick said as he met Nicco back in the kitchen.

"I'm... uhh... I'm not really tired."

Nicco wouldn't look at Nick while she spoke so he knew she wasn't telling him the whole truth. He quickly weighed out the pros and cons of calling her out on it tonight or not. In the end he decided not to bring it up because they had already raked through so many emotions that he felt that they could wait for a few hours before they pick at any more raw topics.

"Did you want me to make you a cup of tea?" He asked instead.

Nicco looked up at him and didn't hide any of her shock that he didn't ask her aobu thwy she was lying to him about not being tired. He just gave her a warm smile in response to her surprise, so she tried to sound completely at ease as she answered, "Yes, please. Do you have mint tea?"

"I sure do."

She sat down at the island in his kitchen while she watched him move around the room. She followed his movements with her eyes so that she could try to learn where he kept everything. If he was serious that he was going to let her stay with him she was going to repay his kindness by doing things like cooking and housework.

"Since you're supposed to be at work right now, what are you going to do tonight instead?"

"I thought you would pass out as soon as we got here, so I had planned on doing your laundry and then catching up on my Tivo, so that I can stay on my schedule. But since you aren't sleeping, I'll have to switch up my plans."

"I'm sorry," Nicco replied in a small, almost sad sounding voice.

At hearing that reply, Nick turned to look at Nicco. She once again reminded him of the scared little girl who had shyly entered any room he was in when he visited home for his first Christmas break at college. She was now wearing a pair of 'grandpa' style, light blue, cotton button up to and pants that were at least two sizes too big for her, which helped to give her the illusion of being so much younger than she truly was.

He leaned over the island to grab one of her hands to get her attention. "Baby Girl, you don't need to apologize. I just meant that if you're awake then maybe we could use this time to catch up some more."

"Oh," Nicco replied with a half smile. "I think I'm kind of talked out Nicky... but catching up with your Tivo sounds like a plan. Unless..." She scrunched up her nose then added, "Unless it's filled with cop shows and Westerns."

Nick barked out a laugh as he turned to pour the now boiling water into two mugs. "No, Nicco it won't be filled with just... oh well there is one show, but it's supposed to be about forensics, so you might find it interesting."

After taking the mug Nick offered her, Nicco slid off her stool to follow him to his TV room saying, "As long as I don't have to think too hard, I'm good."

"I promise, no over thinking."

It took a little bit of maneuvering before they were both comfortable on the couch. Nick wasn't used to having someone else with him, so he just dumped his weight at one end. Nicco, however, was used to having pillows and a blanket in order to help her feel cozy. When he noticed that she looked uncomfortable, Nick pulled a lightweight blanket out of the closet and then watched Nicco create a nest of sorts before he made himself comfortable again.

Much as Nick had expected, he heard the sounds of rhythmic breathing coming from the other end of the couch not far into the second episode of his hour long dramas that had started. Nicked continued to watch the show because he knew from experience that if he tried to move her too soon that she would wake up. When that happened she always forced herself to stay awake despite her exhaustion. Since that would be beyond counter productive, he left her to sleep on the couch.

Once he felt his own eyelids growing heavier, Nick turned off the TV. He moved silently to Nicco's side, but she still grumbled unhappily when he pulled the blanket off of her. He shushed her softly to her from waking even further as he placed one hand under her knees and the other behind her back.

He thought that she had fallen back to sleep until he heard her say, "I'm sorry that I weigh so much."

"Much? What are you, ninety pounds wet?" He teased as he easily carried her to his guest room.

She may have chuckled, but if she did it was too quiet for him to hear. She barely moved at all as he pulled back the covers and tucked her in.

While he was bent over her, Nicco wrapped an arm around his neck and said, "I can't believe you're still single. You're the best."

Nick just laughed softly and ignored her comment to say, "I'm not far. If you need me, just call. Sweet dreams, Nicco."


	5. Chapter 5

_I told you I would shut you up._

Nicco woke up with a start. She couldn't remember who or what she had been dreaming about, but a sinister sounding voice echoed in her mind. She reached over to turn on her bedside lamp so that she could take a drink from the glass of water that she kept by her bed every night, only to find neither of them were there.

 _What the fuck?!_ She thought to herself as she threw back her bed sheets. Since it was still too dark in the room to see, she ran her hands over her torso and legs to investigate what she could feel. _I'm in my PJ's… that's good, but where am I? Think._

Nicco closed her eyes to force her sleep deprived brain to focus. She instinctively knew that she was fine because why would someone who was trying to hurt her let her dress in her usual night clothes? Plus, she wasn't being restrained in any way, so she was totally safe, right?

 _Sweet dreams, Nicco_. The familiar voice with a Texan accent drifted through her mind. _NICK! That's right, I came home with Nick._

She let out a breath that she didn't remember and felt her heartrate finally start to slow down. Now that she remembered where she was, the unfamiliar surroundings didn't cause her any distress. Waking up straight out of a dream had caused even further disorientation for her, but now she remembered it was just a dream. The angry male who accompanied that voice wasn't in the room with her. Heck, he wasn't even alive, so she had nothing to fear from him anymore.

With that last thought in mind, Nicco pulled the covers back over her body and closed her eyes. She figured that it must still be the middle of the night because it was still pitch black inside the room and out the windows from what she could see, so she was going to try to get some more sleep. Plus, she as still feeling quite exhausted, but then again that could have been a result of being awoken straight out of a dream. She always found it threw off her whole day if she was forced out of her slumber prematurely and couldn't finish the dream.

With her eyes closed tight, Nicco tucked her covers under her chin to try to drift off to sleep again. Since she couldn't remember the subject of the dream from which she had awoken, she tried to force herself to restart one of her favorite topics to fantasize about: becoming a CSI who worked under Dr. Gil Grissom. Her go to dream was that she was new to the team and was being good-naturedly hazed by the other members of the team. Since she was the rookie, she was sent out to collect evidence from a 419 that was left in a non-airtight container out in the scorching hot Las Vegas, desert sun. She would dazzle her new teammates with her lack of gag reflex and then her expertise to uncover who was ultimately responsible for the untimely death of her victim.

Nicco was fully aware what a strange topic her profession of choice was to dream about, but she couldn't help it. She had finally met one of the men who was her greatest inspirations in her professional life, so it was hard for her to get the lab off of her mind now. There were so many scenarios that she wanted to play out, and being in Las Vegas had started to make some of her dreams closer to being a reality. Then she finally got to step into the lab and see where she aspired to work. Well, she wished that she could say that visit had been a dream come true, but the nightmare that had infiltrated her world had kept that from being a happy moment in her life.

With a soft, frustrated groan Nicco rolled over onto her side from laying on her back. She had hoped that curling up into the fetal position would help to lull her into another deep sleep. Normally it would have, but she wasn't in her room, she wasn't in her bed, heck she didn't even have her own pillow laying under her head, so sleep was more elusive than it normally would be for her at this time of night.

After tossing and turning a couple of times and not finding a comfortable position to sleep in, Nicco rolled over onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling through the darkness, cursing the fact that she wasn't able to fall back asleep. Normally it wasn't an issue to just roll over and fall straight back to sleep. In fact, she hadn't really had this much of an issue sleeping since she was a little girl and had moved in with the Stokes and started having nightmares about her biological mother's death.

 _And now you're dreaming about HIM._ She thought to herself forlornly while she continued to stare into the darkness of the room.

Not wanting to let her nightmare get the best of her, Nicco curled up under the blankets again to make another attempt to fall asleep. While she tried to coax her brain into unconsciousness, her thoughts started to drift to her first few months spent living with her new family. She hadn't completely understood what it meant to be at the Stokes' home other than the fact that they wanted to help her after she hadn't been able to wake up her mommy when Nicco found her covered in something dark and sticky. Policemen had come and then she never saw her mommy or daddy ever again.

It didn't take long for the blood and gore she had witnessed to morph into nightmares. Nicco regularly woke up in her new bedroom in tears. Some nights she could fall back asleep, but most nights she ended up on a chair by her bedroom window that looked over their front yard. On a good night she fell asleep in her chair with her head on her window sill. On a not so good night she remained awake, staring at the pavement outside while she had daydreams about her parents, her real mommy and daddy, coming to pick her up. The nights that she didn't sleep, she tried to hide from her new mom and dad, which caused a lot of friction between the three of them.

That was until her new 'brother' had arrived at the house. He had been so happy to see his parents when he had first walked through the door. Little Nicco watched the three of them hug at the door through the spindles of the rails at the top of the stairs from the second floor. They had already explained to her that their baby boy was coming home to visit and that they were so excited for the two of them to meet. She was so nervous about meeting more new people that she hadn't slept for the three nights previous to his arrival. That meant that she spent most of the day the he returned home trying to hide from all of them because she was so tired that she could fall asleep at a moment's notice.

Their son finished hugging her new parents before he started making his way up the stairs. She had been so focused on keeping her eyes open to watch them that she didn't hear a word any of them had said. She actually jumped when she noticed him making his way up the stairs before she ran into her bedroom. Nicco made sure to close the door before she tried to hid behind her bed. She didn't understand that her lack of sleep had caused her reaction time to be severely delayed because she was too young. That meant that when she thought that she was being stealthy, Nicco had just barely beaten Nick into the bedroom, so when he opened the door, Nicco jumped again and let out a small shriek.

They both stared at each other until his mom and dad, her new parents, appeared behind him. They said something to him that made his neck turn red before he turned and left the room. Her new mom explained that Nicky was just tired from the long day to get home and that he was surprised to find her in there because this was his old room. She then took Nicco into her arms and told her not to worry. After Nicky had rested up she was sure that he two of them would get along fine.

It took almost two days before the two of them found themselves alone in a room together again. Since he was on holidays from school, Nick took every opportunity to sleep in, even if it was just an hour or two later than he did at school. Nicco would eat breakfast with their parents while Nick went out for his morning run, but she always made sure to make herself scarce by the time that he returned. By the second day, their mom conspired with their dad to force the two of them to be alone in the house. Under the ruse of having to do some last minute Christmas shopping, their parents charged Nick with making lunch for himself and Nicco. He hadn't thought anything of it until he had plated their grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato rice soup and called for Nicco to join him. His mother had told him that the aroma of melting cheese would be enough to bring the young girl to the kitchen table and yet his calls, and delicious smelling meal, went unanswered.

After more than fifteen minutes of waiting for the young girl to come to him, Nick finally left the kitchen to try to find her. When he finally did find her, it was in his old room. She was standing beside the bed with a small, child sized suitcase on the bed. She had her eyes focused solely on her hands while she tried to latch the suitcase closed, but something inside the case prevented her from being able to close it, so she didn't notice Nick at the door. His chuckle and question of where she was traveling to had caused her to jump. When she noticed who was at the door, her little face hardened as she answered that she didn't know, but that he could have his room back so that he wouldn't be angry with his mommy and daddy anymore.

That had gotten Nick's attention, so he sat down on the bed opposite to where she was standing. He quickly told her she didn't have to vacate her new room. He then learned that the cute as a button little girl that his parents had adopted ad an undeniable stubborn streak in her that rivaled any that he and his siblings had inherited. She even crossed her arms over her chest while she tried to argue with him. Seeing the relatively tiny creature try to look intimidating almost cause him to chuckle, but he forced himself not to give in to that desire. He remembered what it was like to be the youngest in the family and hating when people treated him like his age meant that he couldn't possibly understand what they were talking about at all.

So Nicky tried talking with Nicco. Soon enough he was able to get her to compromise. They would share the room. When he was away at school she would stay here and take care of the room for him. He mentally patted himself on the back for including that last bit because she promised to keep the room neat and tidy, which he knew would make his mother happy. Once they had reached an agreement, Nick held his hand out to Nicco so that they could shake on it. Since he had made no move to meet her on the other side of the bed, Nicco was forced to move around the bed to take Nick's hand.

After they had sealed the deal, Nicco didn't let go of Nick's hand. Instead she looked up at him through her eyelashes and asked, _"So, you're like my new big brother, right? Does that mean I never get to see my mommy and daddy ever again?"_

" _Oh Sweetheart,"_ he started sympathetically as he moved her to stand in front of him. _"Unfortunately it does."_

She nodded her head and looked down at her feet as she said, _"It's because I couldn't wake my mommy up."_ Nick just stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief because he had no idea that Nicco had been the one who had actually found her mother's dead body in their house. Nicco once again looked up at him through her eye lashes as she continued, _"She had black sticky stuff on her. A policeman said someone hurt mommy and that she's in heaven now."_

" _That's true Nicco. That's why we want you to be a part of our family."_

She nodded then asked, _"Can I tell you a secret?"_

" _Sure you can Nicco."_

She went up to her tiptoes and he leaned down so that it was easier for her to say into his ear, _"I'm scared… what if the black sticky stuff gets me and I never wake up again?"_

" _Oh Nicco, you don't need to be afraid of that. Mom, Cisco and…"_

" _My mommy always said that her and Daddy would always keep me safe but… but I heard another police man say that Daddy hurt Mommy… but I think the black sticky stuff is what made her never wake up… I… I don't it to hurt me too, Nicky."_

" _It won't."_

His reply was almost automatic, so Nicco stamped her little foot in frustration. Everyone had been telling her that she was safe now, but no one could guarantee to her how she really was out of harm's way. It was starting to make her mad that no one would believe her that she knew what had taken her mommy away from her and that it could easily hurt anyone of them.

Once again Nick wanted to laugh at Nicco's reaction, but then he looked at her. By that it meant that he really looked at her, especially her face, for the first time since he had entered the room. She really was a cute little eight-year-old with the biggest, bluest eyes he had ever seen. But instead of seeing a little girl who had just barely made it through the first half of the second grad, she reminded him more of some of the students he saw roaming the halls of his college during finals.

" _Nicco?"_ He quietly asked as he took both of her hands in his. _"Have you been sleeping okay, Baby Girl?"_

She shook her head so softly from side to side that her pigtails barely moved. She then crooked her right index finger and beckoned him closer. He leaned down so that she could once again quietly say into his ear, _"I'm afraid I won't wake up. I'm… I'm afraid it will get me too."_

" _Nicco,"_ Nick replied as he pulled her into a hug. _"I promise, Mom, Cisco and I will keep you safe."_

She leaned out of his embrace and held up her right pinky finger solemnly stating, _"You pinky promise, Nicky?"_

" _I pinky promise,"_ he replied, hooking his much larger pinky around her own. _"Hey, Nicco? Why don't we try to take a nap?"_

Nicco frowned to try to hide the fact that her bottom lip had started to tremble. _"But you made lunch."_

" _I can warm it up again after we've slept."_

" _You… you're not mad?"_

Nick ran his hand down the side of her head and gently tugged one of her pigtails replying, _"No, Baby Girl, I'm not mad. In fact, I think that I'm so tired that I'll just curl up here on the bed all by myself to take a nap."_

Nicco suddenly shot up and wrapped her little arms around his neck as she said, _"I think I'm gonna like it here."_

Nicco didn't remember getting out of bed, so she had no idea that she had made her way down the hall. It wasn't until she noticed that Nick had shot up in his bed that she realized that she had made her way into his room. She hadn't meant to disturb him, so she tried to remain perfectly still so that he would go back to sleep.

He wasn't sure what it was, but Nick got the feeling that he was being watched. He immediately shot up in his bed to investigate because the last time he felt that way he had tried everything he could think of just to ignore it. That had almost proved to be fatal because he had had a stalker who had set up in his attic. Now when he felt hat eerie sensation, Nicky felt more than compelled to investigate it.

He frantically moved just his eyes from side to side until they finally landed on a figure at his bedroom door. His first instinct was to grab the firearm he kept in his night stand, but as his hand moved his mind started to clear and he was able to focus on the figure who hadn't moved from his doorway and was still silhouetted by the light coming from somewhere in the hallway.

"Nicco?" He called out with a sleep deprived voice. She didn't move at all, so he rubbed both hands over his face to try to wake himself up. Once he was more alert Nick asked, "Nicco? Hey… Baby Girl, did you have a bad dream?"

Nicco finally took a couple of steps into his room, but only nodded frantically in response to his question. He quickly laid back on his bed and pulled the covers back with a quiet, 'Come on', so Nicco quickly ran over and laid down on the bed.

She kept her back to him as she curled her body into a ball. Normally Nick would have just let her try to fall asleep in that position, like he had on many previous occasions, but then he felt her shivering uncontrollably in her place under the covers.

As Nick's protective instinct kicked in, he rolled over onto his left side and flopped his right arm over her side asking, "Nicco? Baby Girl? What's wrong? What happened in your dream?"

He heard her sniffle in a breath before she rolled over to face him with silent tears running down her face. "I didn't mean to bother you… to wake you Nicky. I just… I…"

He reached out a hand to pet her cheek to silence her tearful sounding reply. "It's alright, Nicco. I know that you're a big girl now and it's been a long time since you need your big brother to comfort you after a nightmare, but I'm here. I'll always be here when you need me."

"Nicky, I… I… I can…" Nicco closed her eyes as she felt him run her thumb against her cheek bone. "I still hear him taunting… hear… hear his voice."

"He's dead, Nicco. He can never hurt you, or anyone else, ever again."

Nick felt her head moved as she nodded. "I know, but it just felt so real. I mean, I don't know. Maybe I woke up and I smashed his head into the coffee table so that I could choke the life out of him after what he did to me. Maybe… maybe I should be going to jail for involuntary manslaughter."

"Nicco," Nick replied sounding more alert and a little bit annoyed at her reply as he pulled her closer to his side.

She went without a fight to place her head on his left shoulder. Nick immediately kissed her forehead and whispered, "Baby Girl… from what I've heard there is no way anyone could find you guilty of that… of his death."

"You mean that?" She questioned as she actually tried to settle into his side.

Nick continued to massage the back of her neck as he quietly replied, "Of course I do."

Just as he had hoped, Nick soon felt the slow puffs of Nicco's breaths against his neck. When she was younger he had grown used to falling asleep with Nicco in his arms whenever he visited his parents. He knew they were both adults now, so he shouldn't expect to treat her like he did when she was a little girl, but he couldn't help himself. If Nicco was hurting, he wanted to be the one to help to ease her pain, just like he did from the first day that they had met face to face.

As Nicco settled into a deeper sleep, she rolled over onto her left side so that her back was facing Nick. He immediately wrapped himself around her back and pulled her against his chest. This was how he had held her when she was a little girl and had been afraid that a mysterious black goo that didn't really exist as going to come and kill her. As Nicco got older they were both told that it was inappropriate for Nicco to share a bed with Nick. She still would sneak into his room to talk with him and tell him about her plans for her future. Even though they both knew it was completely innocent, they made sure that she as back in her room before their parents could find out that she had spent the night and fallen asleep in Nick's bed. Without having to have any discussion about it, they both pretended like Nicco didn't find herself in her brother's bed after she had a break down because she wasn't sure that she could live up to their parents' expectations after she found out that she was going to attend the same college that he had.

Tonight Nick hugged her into his chest because he wanted her to know that she was safe with him, just like he had always promised that she would be. He kissed the top of her head that was tucked down under his chin as she slept before he whispered, "I promise that I'll keep you safe Nicco. You just have to let me be you big brother again, Baby Girl."

"I GET THAT, BUT she's still sleeping," Nick said into his phone.

Nicco started to wake up and opened her eyes to look at Nick's back where he was seated on the other side of the bed. From what she could see, it looked like he was still in a t-shirt and boxers, so she knew that he hadn't gotten dressed yet. She then figured that the sound of his cell phone ringing must have woken him up. After that thought, she wondered why the same sound hadn't woken her up, but that question was quickly forgotten because in the end, she really didn't care because that was the soundest sleep she had had in a long time.

While she tried to listen in on his conversation, Nicco raised her hands over her head and arched her back. Just as she had hoped, both of her shoulders let out a loud pop before she felt her stretching let out some of the tension that had been building in her body.

Nick heard the snapping and popping sounds behind him before he heard the contented sigh that accompanied them. He turned just his head to see Nicco now lounging against his pillows, so Nick quickly said into his phone, "I get it Greggo, we've all been there. All I can promise is that Nicco and I will be there as soon as we can, okay?"

After he hung up his phone, Nick place it on his night stand and then he turned to face Nicco. She hadn't moved much on the bed, but she definitely looked like she had tried to make herself look smaller than she had been while he was on the phone.

He didn't want her to feel self-conscious about retreating to his room after a nightmare about what had happened to her, so Nick asked, "How did you sleep, Nicco? Are you feeling any aches and pains? I can go grab your painkillers if you are."

Nicco completely ignored the worried tone of Nick's voice and all of his questions to ask one of her own. "How long do I have before we have to be at the police station, Nicky?"

He gave her a sympathetic smile and answered, "Whenever you're ready to head in."

"So… never?" She tried to joke, but the slight hitch in her voice kept her from being able to pull it off.

Nick then quickly moved over the bed towards Nicco's side. He pet the side of her head and she leaned into his touch. "I'm just joking Nicky. Let me just grab a quick shower and then I'll be ready to go."

He held her face for a couple of seconds and then he leaned down to kiss her forehead. Nicco placed her hands over his that were on her cheeks and gave them a squeeze. She didn't want to start her day off in tears, so she closed her eyes and tried to just let herself get lost in being held so protectively by Nick because she wasn't sure if she could make it through the day on her own. Even if he wasn't aware of it, she was going to borrow some of Nick's strength to get herself through the rest of the day.

Nick moved his face just far back just far enough that he could say, "You take your time, Baby Girl. I'll make us something to eat while you're in the shower. Do you have any requests?"

She sat back and gave him a cheeky grin answering, "Anything with bacon."

He couldn't help but to chuckle at her reply because it was such a 'Nicco' thing to say. She always found a way to lighten the atmosphere in practically any situation. Some people thought that she was being flippant or disrespectful when she cracked a joke during a tense situation, but he knew better. Nicco hated to see anyone hurting and would do everything in her power to help them, even if all that she could do was to give them a reason to smile for a brief period of time.

"Alright Nicco, something with bacon it is," he replied with a warm smile. "And I mean it, you take your time getting ready."

"Thanks Nicky. Seriously, thank you so much."

She then gave him another heartfelt hug. They both then got off the bed to go their separate ways. Nick moved to his dresser to pull out a change of clothes. Nicco stopped at the door to ask him another question, but she immediately got side-tracked and started watching him move around his room. He still navigated the familiar space with the same ease and grace that she remembered seeing him use on the football field, but something was different about him now.

"Nicco?" He called out sounding like it wasn't the first time. He took a couple of steps towards her saying, "Nicco? Did you need something else?"

"What?" She shook her head to clear whatever thought had trapped her in a stare. "Sorry. Uh… do you have any Polysporin I can borrow… err… use?"

"Yeah… sure…" He moved into his ensuite and returned with a small black tube. As he handed it to Nicco he asked, "Did…? Umm… Did he scratch you?"

Nicco shook her head and then replied, "No, there's… uhh… he… umm…" She placed her hand over her heart and tapped her chest with two of her fingers. "Apparently he bit me, so the doctor suggested using a topical antiseptic along with the oral antibiotics. She said it should help it to heal without any complications. Because y'know… we wouldn't want any complications after what happened to me or anything."

"Nicco," Nick replied sadly, taking a couple of more steps closer to her.

She held up her hand to keep him from saying anything else. "I know… I know… Time will help everything to heal and you can probably give me the name of a good therapist, but… I don't know, it just feels like it's going to take forever, so… so you'll have to forgive me when I have a moment of weakness."

"Having a moment is fine, but you aren't weak, Nicco. What you lived through…" Nick paused to make sure that they were making direct eye contact before he continued. "Not everyone could have survived what he did to you because they aren't as strong as you."

"Or maybe it's because they don't have a guardian angel who is willing to kill for them."

"Nicolette…"

"What? I feel like I do. I mean, if I didn't do it and his whore thinks I did, that means that it had to be someone else. And to be honest with you Nicky, I'm not sure that I'll be able to sleep at night until I know who they are and why they did it."

Nick wrapped an arm around her neck to pull her into his chest for another hug. "They'll figure out who it is, Nicco. Have faith in the team. But while we wait, I guess that you'll just have to do some day sleeping like me."

Nicco let out a groan as she punched him softly in the side. "Just stick with being the pretty one and leave the humor to me."

"Hey, I thought that was pretty funny."

He tickled her sides, so she was laughing softly when she replied, "And only you would!"

They both shared a laugh before giving each other another hug. She tried to give Nick a grateful smile, but it was definitely trembling at the edges. She still didn't want to start the day in tears, so she quickly turned and left his room. He took a step into the hall to watch her and he didn't move to continue with his day until she disappeared into the guest room.

EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW that he had told her to take her time showering, Nick still check the clock frequently. He had only had a very brief conversation with Catherine about Nicco, but she had made it clear to him that Nicco was lucky that she didn't have to have surgery from the damage inflicted on her body. Nicco had also managed not to receive any broken bones, which again was a stroke of luck. That was mostly because the bone that would have most likely been broken was her hyoid bone. Had that cracked under the pressure of his hands, she would have probably met the same fate as her attacker.

 _She's alive._ He reminded himself as he piled more bacon onto a plate. _She's alive, she'll heal and she'll still be Nicco at the end of the day._

"Uhh, Nicky? I'm pretty sure I said anything WITH bacon. I didn't mean a mean a meal consisting solely of bacon."

Nick chuckled but when he turned around he fell silent. This woman standing in his kitchen looked much more like the Nicco he remembered. She had taken the time to dry her hair and she managed to add waves in her locks that she knew he wasn't born with, but she somehow always made it look natural. She had put her cosmetics' bag to good uses as well. Her black eye was still slightly visible under her concealer, but she had put so much effort into making the color of her eyes to pop that your gaze always returned back to them instead of the still growing bruise.

He clothes were also much more familiar to him. She had on a long sleeve white shirt under a dark purple polo shirt. The white shirt hid the bruises on her wrists nicely, but he almost laughed when he noticed how she had styled the collar of her shirt. She had popped her collar the same way that she had teased him for doing when he was a teenager anytime that they looked at a family photo album together. But he quickly swallowed back his laugh when he realized that her 'retro' styling had helped to conceal the injuries on her neck. Also, unlike when he was younger, Nicco managed to make the collar work with her hair and make up so that they all looked like a part of a cohesive whole.

He was going to give her a compliment, but then she stepped further into the room. His eyes travelled down her jean covered legs down to her footwear and stayed there. Nicco gave him a questioning look until her gaze followed the same route as his to land on her feet. She shook her head with a humorous smile on her face because of everything she was wearing, she thought that her shoes would be the only thing that would escape his notice or comments.

"You… you still wear them?" Nick finally managed to ask.

Nicco raised her right foot and moved it side to side answering, "Of course I do. They're my lucky boots. The first trip Thea and I took together to the city, I got so many free drinks because guys love watching a girl knock back a long neck while wearing… huh…"

"What thought just came to you?"

Nicco reclaimed the spot where she had been seated the night before and tried to sound nonchalant as she answered, "Oh, I was just thinking that I should have known that wasn't Thea in the room with me because of how she kept insisting on what I SHOULD be wearing to the club."

"And what was that?"

Nicco's cheeks rouged and she picked at a piece of toast as she answered, "She let me wear my jean skirt because it was tight and short, but she insisted that I wear one of her tube tops. It was so tight that I don't remember how I kept it from falling down while we were dancing. Plus…" She scrunched her nose up and looked up at him adding, "Plus she wanted me to wear heels. Seriously, me in heels? How did I not know that she was a total stranger just because of that?"

Nick couldn't help but to laugh as he turned back to the stove to tend to their eggs. Nicco just watched his back and mentally kicked herself because maybe constantly reminding him and herself about the weekend she got duped into spending with a hooker probably wasn't the best way to start their day.

When Nick turned back to face her, he had a plate in each of his hands with two pieces of toast and a hearty helping of scrambled eggs. He placed one in front of Nicco and then he sat down beside her saying, "Well I for one am glad that they still fit because they still look great on you."

"You don't think it's too much, do you?" She asked between bites of her eggs. "I mean… after spending practically all day yesterday with my bruises on display, I just wanted to hid them so that I could feel more like me. Detective Cavaliere seems to hate me already, so it's not like I can do anything to impress him, but do you think this might piss him or someone else off even more?"

"It's not too much. But if it still pisses Cavaliere off then I'll put it in the win column."

Nick started to dig into his meal as if he hadn't said exactly what she had been thinking. Nicco smiled to herself and pulled a couple of pieces of bacon off the serving plate as she asked, "So it wasn't just what he said about me, huh? You really don't like Cavaliere at all do you?"

He looked at Nicco through the corner of his eyes as he answered, "Let's just say that he and I don't really see eye to eye."

Nicco cupped Nick's chin to turn his head so that he was facing her straight on. She then made a point to exaggerate leaning her head back to look up at him as she teasingly said, "Well you are kind of too tall to make that possible for many of us."

Nick rolled his eyes and turned back to his food saying, "If only it was that easy Nicco, if only."

"Is this one of those topics where I'm better off not prying more information out of you?"

"No, it's not…" Nick let out a sigh and put down his fork before answering. "Let's just say that our styles and philosophies of interrogating suspects differ and that has kept us from playing nice together."

"Oh… so… did he smack a kid or kick a puppy?"

Nick let out a nervous chuckle as he asked, "What?"

She turned to face him and realized that her sarcasm was completely lost on him, so she more earnestly replied, "Usually it takes hurting a kid or an animal for someone to get on your perma-shit list, so I'm wondering which one it was for Detective Douche."

"Detective Douche," Nick repeated with a breathy laugh. "I like that… I like it a lot. Anyways, it was a kid. He didn't harm him, per se… well physically anyway, but after he was done laying into that kid… well he might as well have taken a swing at him."

"Wow, that IS low. I'm glad I already didn't like him." Nicco savored a couple of bites of perfectly crisp pieces of bacon before she asked, "So is that why we aren't in a hurry to get back to the station?"

Nick bobbed his head back and forth as he answered, "Partially. But the biggest reason is that you are a victim… I mean you too were victimized at that crime scene, so they should be more considerate of your well-being. They kept you at the station all day yesterday without so much as giving you a proper lunch break, so they can wait for you to be properly fed and rested today before you and I go back in for another round. So, eat up so that you can take your pills before we go."

Nicco raised her right hand in mock salute to say, "Yes, Sir."

With a shake of his head, Nick ignored her teasing tone to ask, "And your bite…? Is everything okay with it?"

Nicco's cheeks ran hot under her blush as she answered, "Yeah… I mean, sure, I guess. It… umm… it doesn't look any worse from what I could tell."

"That's good." They both ate in silence for a couple of minutes before Nick cleared his throat and asked, "So…? Do you have a follow up appointment set with a doctor?"

"Yeah," Nicco replied just over a whisper. "Doctor Lee made one with me after I told her I don't have a family doctor here."

"Oh…?"

Before he could continue his thought, she added, "I've just been going to the clinic on campus whenever I've needed a doctor. Plus, she thought that… well for continuity sake it might be better if I just go to see her in a week's time. I wasn't inclined to argue since I wasn't sure when I might be allowed to go back to my dorm, let alone walk around as a free woman."

"Alright, that does make sense. And speaking of…"

"I've left messages for my academic advisor and the professor I've been TA'ing for… I'm going to try to get an extension on my finals and everything else, but I don't really know how that all actually works. I've never… umm… I' haven't had to miss a deadline before while at school."

Nick reached over to take her hand to try to reassure her. "This isn't something anyone expects to have to ever deal with in their life. But that wasn't what I was going to ask about. I'm assuming you have your truck still on campus, so I was thinking that you and I could go there and pack up the rest of your stuff after we're done at the station. Well, that's if we don't finish too late that is."

"But… don't you have to go back to work once we're done?"

"No, I talked with Catherine while you were sleeping and I'm going to take some of my unused time as Bereavement Leave."

Nicco gave him wide eyes then said, "Nick… no. You shouldn't waste any of your leave on me."

"Nicco," he replied in a firm tone. "First, it isn't a waste. You are more than worth it and you should know that by now. And second, Catherine insisted that I take paid leave to be at your side as support. Since she's a supervisor, I really couldn't argue."

"Oh… okay. Well, if you're just doing what you're told," she countered with a half-smile. "And I should have actually said 'Thank you' there. You have and are definitely going above and beyond for me."

"Hey, that's what family's for."

Nicco reached over and squeezed his arm as another 'thank you'. She didn't want to try to speak because she felt a lump growing in her throat. Nick could tell that she was trying to keep her emotions in check, so he didn't comment and just focused on his food.

Once he was done eating, he fished a pill bottle out of his pocked then said, "I'm going to grab a quick shower while you finish eating and then we'll head out, okay?"

Nicco leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him down for a hug and whispered, "Okay."


	6. Chapter 6

They both thought that when they got to the station that Nicco would immediately be ushered into an interrogation room, but Nick and Nicco were instead told to wait in the front lobby waiting area. Nicco immediately took a seat, but Nick moved further into the building to try to find out what was happening. Greg had sounded quite insistent that he and Nicco get back to the station as soon as humanly possible to answer some questions, so he wanted to find out why they were now being told to wait outside. He was sure that it must have meant that there had been some new evidence that had come to light and he was determined to find someone to tell him what it was.

While Nick moved from desk to desk in the lab without getting a straight answer, Nicco tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. She had been able to leave messages with the people that she needed to at school and told them she would be able to answer emails for a couple of days. She truly hoped that she would be able to take her laptop home tonight so that she could write out a more thorough explanation before she could talk to them in person. She had gotten her phone back along with her luggage before heading to Nick's place and now she had to resist the temptation to check it every five minutes to see if her professors had listened to her voicemails and had replied to her via text.

"Wow. Check out that blond," Warrick commented with a low, long whistle. "I wonder who she's here to see."

A couple of the lab technicians moved or stood up so that they could see the woman that the CSI had referenced. She didn't look familiar to either of them so they shrugged and then returned to their work. Archie, their audio/video, specialist gave her a second glance once he was seated again before he gave Warrick a sideways look and joked, "Don't you already have a girlfriend?"

"Hey, I may be spoken for, but that doesn't mean that I can't look. I'm not blind. Plus, Archie my man, I was just going to be a gentleman and offer to escort her to whomever is waiting on her."

Archie couldn't help but to chuckle because that was pure, vintage Warrick Brown. He was the CSI with the silver tongue who could woo just about any woman. He had a natural swagger about him that most of the lab technicians envied and wished that they had been blessed with a t birth as well.

"Well Sir Galahad, why don't you go ask her?"

Warrick smirked at the sarcastic bite he heard in the nickname Archie used for him, but there was no malice in his bright green eyes when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Ask who what?" A voice called out from behind them.

Archie grinned then answered, "The blond bombshell in the lobby." He jutted his chin in her direction then added, "Warrick wants to know who she's here to see... so that he can be a gentleman and fetch them for her... nothing else."

The last part of his statement was added so hastily that Warrick couldn't help but to chuckle. Greg looked between the two of them and couldn't hide his confusion that his commentary elicited. He thought that there was a distinct possibility that he had walked into an inside joke and now he was kind of regretting that he had interrupted them.

Greg then turned to look at the woman Archie had pointed out and a wide smile spread across his face. Everyone in the room could see that he stood up taller and actually tried to puff his chest out as he declared, "Oh her? She's here to see me."

Everyone in the room froze in their spots and just stared at Greg. They knew that he was always good for some sort of outlandish story that usually involved his family, so they all waited to find out who the blond really was to him. Was she a cousin visiting from Norway or some other exotic Scandinavian locale? Was she a fellow conspiracy theorist that he had met on the internet? Or worse yet, was she some naïve college student that he had duped into meeting here because he had told her some grandiose story about who he wanted to think that he was, which usually meant that he more than inflated the importance of his role in the lab.

Warrick spared a glance at the blond once again before he turned his eyes back to Greg and he didn't hide any of his disbelief as he said, "No, seriously Greg. Who is she here to see?"

"I swear on Papa Olaf's life, she's here to see me."

There were a few sharp intakes of breath in the room that Greg assumed were out of awe at the implication of his statement. Warrick still looked like he didn't believe him, so Greg tried to look more confident, right up until he felt a strong hand land on his left shoulder. He turned just his eyes and caught the bright reflection of the overhead lights off a very large silver colored ring on his "captor's" right hand.

Greg didn't have to hear another word before he started to visibly deflate, but Nick still good-naturedly added, "And that's only because I drove her here."

Even though it didn't seem possible, Greg actually appeared to shrink even further in his spot. Warrick all but rolled his eyes as he let out an almost inaudible scoff. All of the other lab techs were quick to make themselves scarce as they occupied themselves with odd jobs because none of them wanted to get on the wrong side of Nick Stokes. Don't get them wrong, he was one of the nicest CSI's that they worked with, but they all knew that he could easily crush any one of them if they were to cross him. Not that any of them would do that... at least not on purpose.

Warrick moved his gaze between the blond and his friend a couple of times before he stopped to really look at the Texan CSI. "Wait a second, that...? That isn't...?"

"Yeah it is, so why don't I introduce you to her before I get put on her shit list?" Nick asked as he released Greg from his iron-clad hold.

Warrick chuckled softly when he saw the look on Greg's face during their back and forth. He wanted to give the rookie CSI another verbal dig, but instead he just nodded towards Nick and replied, "Yeah, sure Nick, why don't you do that?"

As they walked towards the front lobby, Warrick stepped closer to Nick's side so that he could quietly as, "I know you say that's her, but wasn't she just getting ready for Senior Prom like yesterday?"

"Oh man Rick, don't I wish!" Nick joked back though his own laughter.

Just before they stepped into the hallway that would take them to where Nicco was seated, Nick stopped and made very direct eye contact with his colleague to more earnestly say, "But please don't make any comments about how young you think that she really is, okay? Not even as a joke. She's doing her graduate studies now and really wants to be treated like an adult and not as my baby sister, y'know?"

"I get it," Warrick replied with a placating tone. He knew that there was nothing or no one who could make Nick as nervous or on edge as his family could, so he quickly added, "Seriously man, I get it. She isn't the high school girl I last spoke to on the phone. I understand that a lot can change in six years, you don't have to worry about me, man."

Nick gave him a grateful smile and then led his friend out towards the lobby. He wasn't surprised to see that she had her hands wrapped together between her knees while she stared at the floor because that was such a familiar sight for him. He wasn't sure when Nicco had developed that habit, but it was the same scene he had walked into when he had gone to their home or her school to pick her up for her 'punishment' of spending a school break with him. Although she always looked beyond unimpressed when he first picked her up, Nick never got the impression that his sister was completely annoyed about having to spend that time with him.

As they got closer to her, Nick tentatively called out, "Hey, Nicco...?"

At hearing his voice, she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She looked like she was visibly trying to center herself before she slowly stood up from her seat. The two CSIs could see that she bit her slightly trembling bottom lip while she took in yet another shaky breath to try to steady herself.

Although she really didn't want to, Nicco forced herself to open her eyes. She had been anticipating looking up into the dark, humorless eyes of Detective Cavaliere, but she instead was met with a pair of green eyes that twinkled with unheard laughter.

"Nicco, I'd like to introduce you to Warrick Brown," Nick said as he stepped closer to her side.

"Seriously?" She asked Nick before she turned back to the other man and thrust out her hand. "It's really nice to meet you... in person that is."

Warrick chuckled softly as he took her hand and said, "As it is to meet you. So what finally brings you to Vegas to visit your brother?"

"Oh... well..."

She paused to look up at Nick, which gave Warrick an unobstructed view of the left side of her face. He cupped her chin and let out a low hiss of an empathetic breath before he said, "Ouch. If you need help evening the score with whoever did this to you, count me in."

Nicco shrunk back and away from both of the CSIs whispering, "I... I thought I..."

Nick gently gripped her shoulder to turn her so that she was facing only him. She kept her chin tucked into her chest so that her hair was completely hiding her face. He carefully combed her long locks back with her fingers and then tucked it behind both of her ears.

He let her keep her eyes focused on her feet while he held her shoulders saying, "Nicco, you did a stellar job covering up your black eye. Rick was able to see it because that's part of our job. We're trained to find evidence that people try to conceal from us. Trust me, you did a great job covering it up."

"Yeah Nicco, he's right. You can barely even tell there's a bruise under there," Warrick added trying to sound as supportive as possible. Nicco turned and gave him an unfriendly look, so he quickly tried to recant as he held his hands up and took a step backwards. "Okay, I can tell that I've stepped..."

"Stokes!" Detective Cavaliere's sharp voice cut off the rest of Warrick's apology. "We're ready for you and your sister."

"Alright, we're coming," Nick called out. He then turned to his colleague to say, "Sorry we have to cut this short."

"Yeah... no, go on," Warrick quickly replied. "We can catch up another time."

Warrick then turned and hurried back towards the lab. He wanted to find Catherine and see if she knew the truth about why Nick and his sister had reunited. He was also sure that she would know why the reunion appeared to have happened here at the lab. Plus, he was also hoping Catherine might know how and from whom Nicco had received what he was sure was an impressive shiner under her left eye.

After Warrick left, Nick turned to make is way to the interview room. He reached out to take Nicco's hand to find only empty air. He stopped and turned to find Nicco cemented in her spot. She had her arms folded over her chest and her jaw was set in a stubborn line.

"I have a name. He could use it once in a while," she commented sullenly, mostly to herself.

"Nicco," he started in a soft, careful tone.

"Yeah, that's one of them."

Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I know he isn't making this any easier on you, but that doesn't mean that you have to stoop to his level."

Nicco's feet started moving as she quietly grumbled, "No fair using logic like that. But..." She paused on the other side of the door to look up at Nick and say, "But I still get to call him Detective Douche."

Despite his best efforts not to, Nick laughed at what he assumed was a joke as he opened the door. She then let out her own chuckle when her petulant tone hit her ears.

"Okay. I'll be an adult now," she quietly recanted.

They were both smiling when they entered the room, which caused Greg to perk up in his spot. The last time all of them were in this room, it had been horribly tense and uncomfortable. Normally that wouldn't bother him, but Nicco wasn't a suspect so he felt that she deserved to be treated better. Plus, she was Nick's sister, so that kind of made her like part of their extended work family too.

Not surprisingly, Detective Cavaliere hadn't been thinking or feeling anything in the same vein as Greg. Instead he focused on the smiling faces of the two people who had entered the room as he snidely commented, "Must be nice to be able to have fun and joke around while the rest of us are stuck doing real police work."

Nicco opened her mouth to give him a witty retort, but Nick stopped her by taking a hold of her forearm. He then led her to a chair with a sense of purpose and helped her into her seat. Nicco wanted to be cross with Nick, but one glimpse of the look on his face squelched the heat in her own.

She then swallowed back her anger, but could practically hear her silently saying to herself, "Detective Douche. I fucking hate you, Detective Douche" as she sat down.

Nick had to force back his desire to laugh at what he was sure she was thinking as he replied, "Well, we're here now, so what questions did you have for Nicco?"

Cavaliere stood up so that he could feel like he was towering over the two people on the other side of the table. He remained silent as he slapped down a couple of eight by ten photos on the table top. Nicco kept her gaze fixed on the Detective's chest in a steely glare, so she didn't notice the photos that were basically being thrown down in her direction.

Nick, however, picked up the two photos to get a better look at them. He had hoped to see a mugshot or something similar, but instead in the first photo he saw a posed picture that looked like it belonged in the senior's spread of a yearbook. The other didn't really make sense to him, but it too looked like it had been taken by a professional for an advertisement for a college and not to be used in a police interrogation.

Nick gently placed the two photos on the table top as he asked, "So who's the male model?"

Detective Cavaliere moved only his eyes to look at Nicco as he answered, "I was hoping your sister could enlighten us."

Somehow Nicco's face hardened even more as she turned her angry eyes up towards the Detective's face. Before she could say something unfortunate that matched the heat in her eyes, Greg picked up the pictures and held them up in front of Nicco's face so that they completely blocked her view of the detective.

"Nicco?" Greg asked in a soft, careful tone. "Nicco, do you recognize the man in these photos?"

"No," she almost snapped before Greg's question penetrated her angry thoughts. He gently waved the photos in front of her face causing her to shake her head to clear her thoughts. She then looked up at Greg and answered, "No... wait!"

As she started to sound more alert and coherent, Nicco snatched the two photos out of his hands. She then smoothed them down onto the table saying, mostly to herself, "His cap and gown. The color... they're... oh... oh shit!" She started to frantically tap the second photo saying, "This is a tailgate party... at Texas A&M. I... it was the last one I went to before graduation. Nicky...? Remember how I told you about the guys that tried to roast a whole pig? This is them."

Nick twisted the second photo and pulled it closer to himself. "These are the idiots that forgot that you have to remove the innards before they started to roast the pig?"

"Eww, really?" Greg chimed in as the photo he had been studying for the last four hours started to make more sense.

Nicco actually cracked a smile as she replied, "Yeah, they..."

"So that means that you know who he is," Cavaliere commented over the rest of Nicco's statement.

She resumed glaring at the Detective as she replied, "I said I know OF them. But I'll simplify it for you Detective... They were the talk of the tailgate but I don't actually know any of them. By that I mean that I couldn't ID any of them by name or anything else other than they are the idiots who didn't properly clean a pig before roasting it and getting themselves and all of their friends, whose names I still don't know, sick."

"But you recognize this man," Cavaliere persisted as he dropped the stereotypical grad photo over the one that depicted the failed pig roast.

Nicco's first instinct was to say no, but she had promised Nick that she would be mature about this interrogation. As such, she pulled the photos closer to herself so that she could look at both of them together. Individually the man in each photo just looked like some random college undergrad, but together there was something familiar about him that jogged a couple of memories for her.

"We had a couple of classes together," she suddenly blurted out.

"What did you say?"

Nicco shrunk back in her spot at hearing the detective's almost angry tone, so Nick reached over and gripped one of her wrists as her more gently inquired, "Nicco? Did you say that you do actually know him?"

She shook her head as she answered, "Not really. I think... err... I'm pretty sure we had a couple of lectures together... but that's it, I swear."

Although Nick and Greg seemed to be appeased by that reply, Cavaliere would not be deterred and nearly pounced as he said, "So then you DO know who he is."

The three other people in the room turned and gave him a look of disbelief. He didn't seem to notice any of the looks the men were giving him, so Nicco let out a long suffering sigh as she rolled her eyes and clarified saying, "No, Detective, I don't know who he is. And by that I mean I don't know his name. A lecture hall is filled with over a hundred students. Unless we had a tutorial together, there wasn't much hope of me ever actually hearing his name or finding out who he really was because she never actually spoke to each other."

"But you obviously studied similar subjects, that means that you would have run in the same circles, that you went to the same parties," Cavaliere stated as if it was an absolute truth that everyone in the room should already know.

Nick reached over to take Nicco's hand again because he knew that this line of questioning would bring up some negative emotions for her. Their parents had been a very traditional pairing and had expected the same of all of their children, even the daughter they had adopted. As she grew into adulthood, Nick knew that she had started to argue with their mom about her apparent lack of a social life. She had called him numerous times in tears because their mom thought that she was focusing too much on her studies and that it was prohibiting Nicco from meeting a nice boy that she could one day settle down with to have her own traditional All-American family. He had always been so proud of Nicco for wanting to blaze her own trail that he had always made himself available to give her a pep talk no matter the time of day or night and he wanted her to know that hadn't changed, even now.

Nicco felt Nick take hold of her hand as she sniffled back a tear. Nick had been the only member of their family who had ever laid off of her for not dating every guy who looked her way and she almost felt overwhelmed by her sense of relief that he was beside her now.

Thinking of all the times that Nick told her that there was nothing wrong with her, Nicco sniffled in another breath and said, "I didn't go to any parties when I did my undergrad. I was at the college on scholarship, so I was focused on my studies to keep my grades up. The only social events I attended were football games and that was only when they didn't conflict with my finals or deadlines for my papers. So I'm sorry, Detective Cavaliere, but we didn't actually run in the same circles."

"Oh really? Then how do you explain these?" Cavaliere replied in a spiteful tone as he picked up a file folder from his side of the table.

Before anyone else in the room could utter a sound, the detective laid out another row of five eight by ten photos. He made sure to lay them out carefully so that the images would be clear to Nicco. As each photo came into focus, Nick felt her grip on his hand tighten. During this time, Nicco had been trying to maintain her poker face, but Greg caught the sudden widening of her eyes after at least two of the photos that were presented to her.

Nicco gave Nick's hand another tight squeeze before she released her hold on him. She was glad that he didn't say anything to her as she realigned the photos into a series that only seemed to make sense to her because she wasn't sure if she would be able to explain it to anyone else. Once she had the photos arranged to her liking, Nicco just stared at them without saying a word to any of the men in the room.

"You know something," Detective Cavaliere accused.

"I'm not sure," she replied as her bottom lip started to quiver uncontrollably in her spot.

When he saw that Nicco might be in distress, Nick instinctively moved closer into her side. She didn't resist him at all and actually melted into his hold once he had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her lip continued to quake even while being comforted by the older CSI which annoyed the detective to no end. Cavaliere wanted answers and he really didn't care how uncomfortable Nicco felt about giving them.

As he opened his mouth to question her, Nicco let out a soft sob before she said to Nick, "That's my building... he's... he's by my truck... what...? Why is he here now?"

Nick turned his eyes towards the other two men as he pulled his sister even more tightly into his side. Greg looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in that room, but Detective Cavaliere did not appear to be affected at all by her tears. His eyes remained laser focused on the side of Nicco's head and Nick didn't see a single sign of compassion in them as Nicco tearfully asked her questions.

Nick then closed his eyes so that he could focus his thoughts on Nicco as he whispered against her hair, "I don't know why he's here, but don't worry... I'm here to protect you."

By this time Nicco had fully given herself over to being comforted by Nick without any hesitations. She started to cry and muffled her sobs into Nick's shoulders in the hopes that no one would hear her. Greg immediately noticed that her shoulders were shaking ever so minutely, so he decided to back off completely from trying to get her to speak and remained silent.

While the two CSIs appeared to be trying to coddle and placate his suspect, Detective Cavaliere would not be dissuaded from his mission. In fact, the longer he spent in the room, the harder it was for him to maintain his composure. As such, he laughed silently to himself before he let out an audible scoff at the scene playing out before him.

When they heard Cavaliere's disrespectful noise of complaint, Nick and Greg turned their eyes towards him. Once again he only had eyes for Nicco, so he didn't notice the looks the men were giving him as he snidely asked, "Are you sure you aren't really a 'Stokes' Miss Radisson? Because hookers and stalkers seems to be a common theme in your family."

That comment cause Nicco to raise her face off of Nick's shoulder so that she could glare at the Detective. Nick gave her shoulders a squeeze as a silent request for her not to say anything. He could tell by the way that she had tensed up that she was pissed off at the detective so he assumed that she was also glaring daggers at him. If she was then he was sure that whatever she might say would be in a tone that matched the look on her face. Not that he wouldn't agree with whatever she might say and share those same sentiments, he just knew that they would get her nowhere but more frustrated and angry with the detective.

When she relaxed into his side again, Nick gave her another quick side hug as he swallowed back his own feelings of rage. When he finally did speak, Nick kept his voice very controlled and eerily calm.

"Cavaliere, that's crossing the line. Nicco is here as a courtesy to assist you with your homicide investigation. If you insist on being insulting and demeaning, then I will just take her home so that she can rest and heal the injuries from her own assault."

Cavaliere opened his mouth to reply, but Greg jumped in before he could speak saying, "I think we could all use a break. Nicco, Nick...? Why don't you get some fresh air or something to eat or whatever and we can all meet back here in ten... fifteen minutes?"

Nick smile gratefully at the other CSI and replied, "That sounds like a good idea." He then moved to help Nicco sit up straight as he said to her, "Come on Nicco, let's go get you a cup of tea."

She didn't reply but did follow his lead and stood up. She kept her face turned away from the other CSI and the detective because she didn't want them to see her tear stained face. It was bad enough that she had broken down into tears once again, but she was sure that she looked even worse than the last time that that happened. Her makeup must have been running by now and her black eye had to be visible which would all add up to her looking beyond horrendous.

As he started to lead Nicco to the door, Nick was beyond surprised that Cavaliere hadn't tried to stop them. He knew it was tempting fate, but he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Are you alright with us taking a break?''

Both of the CSIs could see that Cavaliere wanted to object, but he instead just said angrily, "Don't go far."

Nick just rolled his eyes as he wrapped his arm around Nicco's shoulder. It amazed him that she had her hair cover her face so that it was completely obscured, but somehow she managed to keep in step with him.

Greg watched as Nick led Nicco in the direction of the break room. He knew that he had just put himself on the wrong side of the detective, but he was finding it hard to care. Nick had been completely right when he said that Cavaliere was crossing a line and he wanted to make sure he did something before he did or, more importantly, said something that could ruin their investigation.

With that thought in mind, he made a bee-line to Gil Grissom's office. Even though Ecklie had broken up their team, everyone still looked to him as their de facto leader. If they were stuck, if they needed advice, or if they were struggling in their personal life, they all turned to Gil. He had been a mentor to most of them while he was their supervisor, so their habit of turning to him had become completely natural.

Greg actually let out an audible sigh of relief when he saw that Gil was seated behind his desk. They all knew he worked the longest hours of anyone in the lab, but for some reason he had almost worried that he wouldn't be in there. Then again maybe it was working beside Cavaliere that had caused him to become more of a pessimist. That was an unsettling thought that was at the forefront of his mind when he entered Gil's office.

"SO… THE TEA SELECTION is kind of slim pickings," Nick said to Nicco after she had taken a seat at the table. "But we do have mint or orange pekoe."

Nicco looked up to see Nick holding a tea bag in each hand. It never ceased to amaze her how kind, caring and protective he was of her. But she knew that he wasn't that way just towards her. If he considered you a friend or family member, Nick was like having a guard dog at your side. It wouldn't take much for him to attack someone if he thought that they were poised to harm anyone he cared about.

It still seemed unconceivable to her that he was still single. Him not dating anyone, at least not seriously, while he was at school made sense to her because she was the same way. No one in her family knew about it, but while she was working on her undergrad, Nicco actually had tried the whole 'steady boyfriend' thing. It hadn't lasted very long because he quickly started complaining about how single-mindedly focused she on her studies. The second that he told her that her grades weren't really all that important, Nicco had told him that it wouldn't work out and she never looked back.

Nick just watched her patiently while Nicco got lost in her thoughts. She couldn't help but to smile at the calm look on his face. He had always said that he would be a rock for her, so it was comforting to have him prove it to her right now.

"Actually Nicky, I think I'd rather have a cup of coffee," she finally answered.

Nick couldn't hide his shock if he tried as he asked, "Coffee? Really?"

"Yes, really. Tea is for when I'm relaxing or before bed to help me go to sleep," Nicco clarified with a laugh. "What? I want to be on my toes while we're dealing with Detective Douche. Plus… I'm a big girl now. It won't stunt my growth or anything. I swear I drink it all of the time now."

"Alright, alright. And what does a big girl like you take in her coffee?" Nick asked with an amused tone.

Nicco resisted the urge to roll her eyes petulantly at his cheekiness as she answered, "Milk and sugar, please. Or cream. That doesn't really matter to me, but just no artificial sweeteners. Those are so gross and ruin everything."

Even though his back was now turned to her, Nicco could practically see Nick's eyes crinkled as he laughed. With all of the insanity that surrounded her life right now, Nicco was grateful that some things hadn't been tainted and hadn't changed. She knew Nick was worried about her, but he was still just being Nick. He still just wanted to talk and chat with her about inconsequential things and to be there for her just like he always did.

"Oh hey Nick. I thought that I heard you were taking a couple of days off."

As he stirred the cup of coffee he had made for Nicco as he turned to face the owner of the new face in the room. "Hey Sara. Yeah, I have taken a couple of days off so that I can help out my sister with anything that will come up during the investigation."

"Your…?" Sara turned so that she could look in the direction that he had thrust his chin. She took a couple of steps that way saying, "I've heard about you. You must be Nicco."

The other woman stood up so that she could meet Sara's hand to shake it. Nicco opened her mouth to reply, but as soon as her eyes met Sara's she fell silent. Nicco quickly shook her hair so that her face was completely hidden behind it. Nick hadn't treated or looked at her any differently since they left the interrogation room, so she had forgotten about the carnage that her tears must have incurred on her carefully applied makeup.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel self-conscious," Sara quickly apologized.

Nicco refused to look up at her and she shrunk into herself as she released the CSI's hand. "It's alright. I know that after all of my waterworks in the interrogation room that I must look horrible."

"Not horrible, you just look like you've been crying," Nick commented as he placed the filled coffee mug on the table.

Nicco tried to glare at him, but her eyes were too puffy from her tears and her bruising to fully pull it off. Sara bit back her laughter at their back and forth before she said, "He's right. We've all seen worse. But that being said. Why don't you come with me and well get you cleaned up before you finish your coffee break?"

Nicco looked over at Nick as if she was asking for his permission or advice and he nodded saying, "Go ahead Nicco. I'll make you a fresh cup when you get back."

"Okay," she agreed very quietly. "Thanks… uhh… thank you both."

"It's nothing," Sara replied as she motioned for Nicco to follow her.

Thinking that they were headed for the restroom, Nicco moved to turn in that direction at the door. She actually knew how to get there, but Sara turned to walk in the opposite direction of that destination. Nicco quickly followed the CSI and silently fell into step a couple of feet behind Sara.

Instead of the restrooms, Sara let her to a locker room. Nicco eyes moved to try to take the layout of the room in and she immediately noticed there was no sink or any other facilities that one would associate with cleaning up.

Nicco sat down on the bench that was between the two rows of lockers on either side of the room. Instead of watching Sara unlock her locker, Nicco looked around and let her mind start to wander. She couldn't help but to think how great it would be for her to be able to claim one of these as her own. Then she couldn't help but to wonder which locker belonged to Nick. Did he have anything in it to make it more personalized? Did he have any photos of their family? Or was that too 'high school' for his workplace?

"Here you go, Nicco," Sara said, taking the other woman out of her thoughts.

Nicco reached out to take the item she was being offered and frowned down at it. "Baby wipes?"

Sara's lips pulled back in a half smile as she answered, "I keep them in my kit to help do spot clean up while I'm out at a scene. I swear that they take pretty much everything off your skin without being overly irritating. Which I figured would be something you'd be worried about after breaking down into tears."

"Huh," Nicco mused as she fished one of the sheets out and started to wash off her ruined makeup. "I guess this is one of the tricks that you only learn on the job, eh?"

"Yeah, it definitely is one of the things that they don't teach you at school."

Sara took Nicco's soiled wipes and handed her a hand held mirror to use so that she could be sure that she didn't miss any of her makeup and leave it on her face. Nicco used one last wipe to eliminate the remnants of her cosmetics that were still on her skin. Sara watched Nicco work and as she cleaned her face, Sara could see that Nicco was visibly retreating into herself. She had noticed the bruise on Nicco's face when they had shaken each other's hand and in all honestly she had expected to see something much worse. Plus, she had heard from Catherine about how brutally Nicco had been attacked, so she hated to see such a strong woman look so defeated.

"So…" Sara started awkwardly.

"No one ever sees me without makeup," Nicco said more to herself than the other woman. "I know it's stupid, but no one, well no one outside of my family or roommates, have seen me without any makeup on. God, it's suck a stupid, trivial thing to be worried about, especially after everything that happened to me, but it's bugging me."

"I don't think it's stupid," Sara countered as she sat down beside Nicco. "I think one of the best ways to know an experience hasn't changed you is that your thoughts remain your own. So, if you normally would worry about going out in public without any makeup on, then to me it means that he hasn't broken you."

Nicco turned and gave Sara a smile as tears started to well up in her eyes. "Thanks Sara. I hadn't thought of it that way. It's just like Catherine said yesterday, I'm a survivor and I shouldn't feel ashamed of my injuries because they're proof that I lived through it."

"That sounds pretty good to me. So, are you ready to head back?"

Nicco followed the CSI's lead and stood up, but she didn't move from her place as she said, "Actually there's a couple of other things I'd like to do before I head back into the interrogation room with Detective Do… uhh… Detective Cavaliere. Can you maybe help me out with a couple of small things?"

SARA LED NICCO BACK towards the breakroom, but she didn't go back inside with her. The CSI knew that Nicco needed to explain a couple of things to Nick about what was going to happen next. Even though Nicco hadn't said anything, she could also tell that Nicco didn't want, or need, an audience while she spoke with him. So, Sara gave her arm an encouraging squeeze out in the hallway before she turned to head back towards the lab to continue with her shift.

Nicco couldn't help but to smile at Sara's silent encouragement. She then opened the door to the breakroom and immediately heard, "Welcome back Baby Girl, are you…? Whoa!"

She closed the door and sat down at the table without making eye contact with him or saying a word. Nick mentally kicked himself and quickly made her another cup of coffee like he thought she would want it. He hadn't meant to startle her or make her feel uncomfortable, but her change in appearance had caught him so off guard that he couldn't have stopped himself, even if he tried.

As he handed her the mug of coffee, he sat down beside her and heard her say, "Thanks for the coffee. It smells delicious." She took a long sip and then more quietly said, "Sara put my long sleeve shirt into your locker. I hope you don't mind. I didn't mean to intrude."

"Nah Nicco, I don't mind." He reached up to give her hair that was now in a ponytail an affectionate tug before he started to twirl it around his finger. "I thought that after yesterday that you didn't want to have your bruises on display."

"I didn't… I mean, I didn't think that I did." She took another long drink from her mug before she put it down and turned to look at Nick. Her movement caused some of her hair to unravel from around his fingers, which caused her to smile as she added, "Then I got to talking with Sara and she reminded me of what Catherine had said to me yesterday. I survived something that a lot of people couldn't and haven't lived through and that I should… I mean I am proud that I did make it through what he did to me. It still sucks that my bruises are so dark, but they'll fade and then people will hopefully start treating me normally again. Well, everyone but Detective Douche. I don't think he knows how to be a decent human being no matter what."

"Yeah, he's a special case," Nick agreed. "And you're still beautiful, smart and an all-around amazing person."

Nicco took his free hand into both of hers so that she could pet his arm in a comforting action as she added, "Thank you… and… I know he is. That's why after I had to take my makeup off, I thought… maybe it would help if he had some visual reminders that there was more than one victim in that room, y'know?"

Now that his fingers were totally freed from her ponytail, Nick used that hand to stroke the side of her head saying, "I don't think that it could hurt either. But that being said… how are you feeling? I noticed that you didn't take a T3 after breakfast. Are you still doing okay without it?"

"Yeah, actually I am. Getting a good night's sleep seemed to help a lot."

"Good to hear," Nick answered as he turned to pick up his own cup of coffee.

Nicco watched him out of the corner of her eye and smile into her mug. Nick still was Nick, even with all of her bruises staring him in the face. She knew that it couldn't be easy for him to see the reminders of what that pimp had done to her, but he was still taking it in stride. He still thought that she was beautiful and didn't act like her injuries diminished who she was in anyway.

 _I should say something_. She thought to herself as she opened her mouth to speak.

A knock at the door instantly caught their full attention. Nicco and Nick raised their mugs to their lips as they watched Greg's head snake its way past the now opened door so that he could say, "Hey… so… we're all set and ready for the next round whenever you two are."

After Greg disappeared back into the hallway, Nick and Nicco didn't move much other than to hastily try to finish their drinks. Nick was the first to finish his coffee and then he placed his mug on the table and tried not to watch Nicco as she finished her drink. He knew she was feeling self-conscious and he didn't want to add to that by making her feel like he was watching and judging her every move.

Once she was done, Nicco simply placed her mug on the table and then she pushed her chair back and stood up. She still hadn't said a word as she turned her head and lifted a well-coiffed, inquisitive eyebrow in Nick's direction.

Nick didn't have time to laugh as he jumped up and moved to her side. He did however ask her, "Are you sure you're up for this, Baby Girl?"

As they walked towards the interrogation room, she paused just long enough so that she could wrap an arm around his waist to give Nick a hug. He immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull her flush into his side and hug her as well.

As she settled into her place under his arm. Nicco quietly replied, "I know I can make it through anything Detective Douche throws my way if I have you by my side."


	7. Chapter 7

Nick and Nicco walked side by side on their way back to the interview room. He wasn't totally surprised to see a slight spring in her step as Nicco moved down the hallway with her head held high. She had made up her mind that she wasn't going to play 'the victim', but at the same time she wasn't going to let everyone forget what she had survived. It was a feat that anyone should feel proud about overcoming and she was more than willing to use that to her advantage from now on to try to be treated with more respect.

They both paused at the door for no reason and Nick turned to Nicco to ask, "Are you sure that you're ready for this?"

Shaking her head from side to side, she answered with a non-committal, "Sure, why not?"

As she moved through the doorway, Nicco stopped so abruptly that Nick ran into her back. He instinctively placed his left hand on her shoulder and wrapped his right arm around her waist to keep her from falling forward under his momentum. Nicco chuckled uncomfortably at her awkwardness and then hugged his right arm against her body with both of her own.

"I'm sorry that I startled you." They both heard a familiar voice apologize. Nick looked over Nicco's head to see Dr. Gil Grissom sitting on a chair in the corner on the opposite side of the room from where their two interrogators were seated. He gave them his easy going, professional smile as explained, "Since this is one of CSI Sanders' first cases as a lead investigator, I was hoping to observe this interview to evaluate his performance. That is if you are consent to my being here. If not, then I'll go and I'll find another way to give Greg feedback on his work on this job."

Nicco quickly shook her head replying, "No, no it's totally fine Dr. Grissom. If you feel that it would be beneficial to CSI Sanders' career to be here, then I have absolutely no objections."

Grissom smiled a little wider and then said, "Thank you Miss Radisson, I do very much appreciate it."

Nicco them moved to reclaim her seat. While her back was slightly turned towards Detective Cavaliere, he mouthed a heartfelt 'thank you' in Greg's direction. It was a brilliant idea. With Dr. Grissom in the room, she knew that Cavaliere would be on his best behavior, which in turn would help her and Nick to get through all of this much more quickly and easily.

Greg gave Nicco the slightest hint of a smile in return because he didn't want to tip off Cavaliere. After he presented the idea to Gil, it was Grissom who approached Cavaliere with their proposition. Since it was usual for a supervisor to keep close tabs on a new CSI, the detective saw nothing wrong with including him during the interrogation. He did, however, remind Gil, emphatically, that he was the one asking the question and that Gil was just there to observe Greg's performance, silently.

Once they were settled in the same seats they had occupied earlier in the day (with the exception of Grissom sitting in a corner behind Nick and Nicco), Greg pulled out the five surveillance photos again. He carefully placed them on the table in the same order that Nicco had arranged them. Even though he tried not to, Greg found himself closely watching Nicco's reactions as he worked and he noticed her visibly recoil slightly when he put down the photo of their potential suspect in the university's parking lot. Ever since he saw her first reaction to it, Greg had wondered why seeing him by her vehicle seemed to bother her more than seeing him by her dorm's building, but quickly decided not to ask her about it, especially not when Cavaliere was present.

After his meeting with Grissom, Cavaliere had found Greg and pulled him aside for their own 'meeting'. In reality it turned more into Cavaliere laying into Greg for interrupting his interrogation. He reminded Greg that he was the one questioning Nicco and that the CSI didn't have to be in the room. He then warned him that if Greg continued to interfere with his investigation that he wouldn't hesitate to go to Ecklie and have him barred from the interrogation room.

Even though he hated with every fiber of his being to do it, Greg apologized and then held his tongue beyond that. He knew that he hadn't done anything wrong and that Cavaliere had no justifiable reason to prohibit him from being in the room, but Greg still didn't want to risk it. He didn't want to chance leaving Nicco and Nick alone with the detective because he knew that that would just turn ugly, fast.

"Miss Radisson, now that you've had time to... think," Detective Cavaliere started in a forced civil tone. Everyone knew he wanted to say something much less professional, but they all held back their commentary. "Has anything about this male come back to you that you would like to share?"

"No... Sir," Nicco replied trying not to sound annoyed at his implication that she was intentionally withholding information. "As I told you before, I recognize him from a couple of lectures we had together. In fact, if it wasn't for the photo of him at the tailgate party in Texas, I probably would have assumed that I knew him from UNLV. You know, one of those, he looks familiar, but I couldn't tell you why, kind of things?"

"Alright. What if I told you his name is Ian Rayburn?"

Still feeling beyond annoyed about the continued condescending questions, Nicco replied, "It's a good, WASPy, Anglo-Saxon name."

"Nicco," Nick quietly admonished her as he took her hand into his.

She visibly deflated and turned to share a look with Nick to thank him for reminding her to remain calm and professional. She kept a hold of his hand as she turned back to Cavaliere and more politely said, "I'm sorry Detective, that was rude. What I meant to say is that I don't recognize that name, nor do I know anyone with a name remotely similar to it."

"Well it seems that he knows you."

Cavaliere then turned to Greg and nodded towards the file folder by his left hand. Greg almost looked surprised, but he recovered quickly. He pulled one of the photos out of the lineup. "As you can tell from this photo, he works at Caesar's Palace. We found his fingerprints on a room service tray that we found on the coffee table by the deceased's body."

"But we didn't order room service," Nicco blurted out. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I told Thea that she shouldn't waste her money on their overpriced food when she paid so much for the suite already. I mean I told... well you know what I mean."

"Yeah," Greg answered sympathetically. He then pulled out two pieces of paper and placed them over a couple of the photos. "I do understand what you mean, but that doesn't change the fact that we've discovered two receipts for two separate orders from the day that Mr. Rivero died."

Nicco frowned and picked up the two pieces of paper. The first one, the one with the earlier time stamp, was for a single serving of fries and gravy. She wrinkled her nose at that because even on one of her cheat days she would never have tried that combination of food. Even when she had mashed potatoes she preferred adding freshly diced garlic to her helping instead of gravy. She put that piece of paper down to look at the second. This receipt was for an order of a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Now that sounded more appetizing to her, but no one had offered her a hot meal once they got back to the hotel suite. No, instead the woman impersonating her roommate had disappeared into her bedroom while Nicco was left to try to fend off the advances...

 _Stop!_ She told herself as she put down the copy of the second receipt. _Stop thinking about... wait..._

As much as she didn't want to be reminded of what the pimp's lifeless body looked like, she now wished that she had a copy of the crime scene photos to confirm her new suspicion.

Since she didn't and wouldn't be asking for one, once her hands were empty Nicco sat back then said, "Well someone enjoyed a couple of meals filled with saturated fats."

Greg had to bite the inside of his cheek to remind himself not to laugh. One glance at the angry look on Cavaliere's face helped him to sober up even more before he pulled out another photo to add to the growing pile as he said, "We assume that the first order was for Ariel... uhh... Artemis and her escort. It... the bill has the initials 'EJ' on it. Mr. Johnson's first name is Eric."

"Oh," Nicco replied knowing that Greg had added in the last part of his explanation for her benefit. "Plus it's one of Thea and Artemis' favorite guilty pleasures. Whenever Thea and I had a cheat day, she tried to get me to try it. She even added cheese curds once because they had eaten something called 'poutine' when they vacationed in Montreal. It smelled like dirty sweat socks to me, so I wouldn't touch it."

That comment broke Greg's resolve and he actually did laugh. That reaction elicited a stern look from both Nick and Cavaliere, so the older CSI picked up the second receipt as he asked, "So if we know who signed for the first order, who signed for the second one?"

Nicco picked up the crime scene photo and let out a quiet gasp when she had her suspicions confirmed.

"'LR'. That..." She passed the photo to Nick without finishing the rest of her thought.

"That's right," Nick started as he took the photo from Nicco. "Rivero loved that his nickname was 'Lucky' because Vegas was his town and it had always been good to him. But from this photo, it looks to me like he didn't get a chance to eat his final meal."

"No," Cavaliere answered, taking over the interview once again. He gave Greg a look, so the younger man fished out another piece of paper from his file folder, but didn't say a word as he gave it to the detective. "You got that right, Stokes. Based on the autopsy report and the receipt he signed for the food, it looks like he was killed not long after its delivery."

"Plus we found male DNA on the body in places that would be consistent with it being from whomever strangled him to death," Greg quickly added.

Nicco's eyes went wide as she stuttered out, "Oh... Oh God... and he... he delivered... so he..."

She started to shiver as she trailed off, so Nick jumped up to wrap her in a hug. Nicco immediately buried her face into his side just above his hip while she tried to calm herself down. She was sick and tired of crying. Nick was right, the man who had assaulted her was dead, so he couldn't hurt her again. Her stalker now had a name, so it was just a matter of time for him to get caught. If she knew anything about Nick, it was that he wouldn't be letting her out of his sight until the creep was finally in cuffs. That meant that she was as safe as she possibly could hope to be and she tried to remind herself of that now.

Nick started petting the back of Nicco's neck once she buried her face into his side. He felt her shudder in a couple of breaths, but he hadn't yet felt any moisture on his skin or clothing. Given all of the news Nicco had received since waking up after her attack, Nick didn't blame her for being overwhelmed. He had never really known her to be a crier, so he attributed her other breakdowns to being a result of her exhaustion and frustration with how Cavaliere had been treating her. Since she hadn't started crying this time around, he figured that she was clinging to him more because she was afraid of what she was hearing and wanted to feel that she was protected by him, which he was willing to do for her.

He kept his hold on Nicco somewhat lax so that she could move easily if she needed or wanted to, but he let one hand continue to stroke the length of her ponytail. "So, I'm assuming you've eliminated the John as a suspect since you keep asking Nicco about this Ian guy."

"Yeah. We've been able to compare his DNA to what we found on the body and there was no match," Greg explained despite the looks Cavaliere was giving him that screamed for him to keep his mouth shut. "Plus Artemis confirmed that he left almost immediately after signing the bill for her snack. Turns out he's one of her preferred clients because he never wants to spend the night... he... he always has to get home to his wife and kids."

That comment got Nicco's attention. She didn't release her hold on Nick, but she did turn her head so that she could face Greg again. "He's married with kids and...? And... And he usually does the whore auditions? Eww."

Greg bit his lip to keep himself from laughing at the truly, thoroughly disgusted look on Nicco's face. Cavaliere let out a soft sound of distaste and looked like he was going to make a snide comment, but something (or more likely someone) in the room kept him silent. Nicco continued to look unimpressed as she rested her cheek against Nick's side while she waited for the men to continue their conversation.

Neither Nick, nor Nicco could see Gil so they missed the look on his face, while Cavaliere and Greg opted not to pay attention to his reaction to everything that was happening. For him the evidence of the case wasn't all that important to him, mostly because he wasn't working the case so he hadn't heard all of the evidence in order to have the full picture. To him it was like reading a book with the first half of the pages missing. You got the gist of the plot and the ending, but not the whole story, which seemed pretty pointless to him in the end. Even though he hadn't quite consciously thought of it that way, this was almost like an unofficial job interview for her and he was interested to see how Nicco interacted with the men in the room. It was obvious that there was no love lost between her and the detective, but that was of little surprise to Grissom given Nick's history with him.

The true area of fascination was how Nicco acted around his two CSIs. It was obvious that she was close with her older brother and that he was protective of her, but there seemed to be something more there. Nick always appeared to be on the edge with Cavaliere since they worked on a case where a fourteen-year-old boy bludgeoned his twelve-year-old brother to death, so it made sense to him that Nick was being overly protective of his sister. Nicco was nearly clinging to Nick's side which made him feel a measured amount of relief because he had on more than one occasion seen women who had been sexually assaulted refused to be touched by any man for any reason. Daughters rejected fathers, wives shunned their husbands, and sisters ignored brothers. On a good day they let their loved ones comfort them in their time of need and Nicco appeared to one of the lucky ones who had that unwavering support at her side and was willing to accept it.

Then his eyes found Greg. The youngest man in the room had worked hard to move from the DNA lab to being an integral part of their team. There were times that Greg appeared to be completely immature and that he didn't take his job seriously, but Gil knew that that was just Greg's way of dealing with all of the horrors of their job. What they saw and heard could be overwhelming and it didn't take him long to understand that Greg's humorous demeanor was just a type of personal shield. He seemed to be dealing well with questioning Nicco, but again he noticed something different about the way he looked at her compared to other victims with whom he had witnessed Greg interact. Again he couldn't really put his finger on it, but he suspected it had something to do with the fact that she was Nick's sister. During their meeting, Greg had mentioned, more than once, that she deserved to be treated with more care and respect no just because she was a victim, but also because she was a member of their extended family. It more than made sense to Gil that that would cause the looks from Greg and he actually hoped that was the only reason for it.

Nick continued to stoke Nicco's ponytail as he asked, "So what? You're thinking that this guy has been stalking Nicco? The he followed her here from Texas and that he decided to make his move when he saw she was staying at his hotel? And that once he got into her room he got a rude awakening when he found some other guy in her room, so he killed him and what? Just left?"

"That could definitely be one of our working theories," Cavaliere replied with a dismissive tone.

Nicco sat up, but kept her arm around Nick's waist as she said, "I don't get it. When a stalker turns violent they usually go after the object of their obsession. Why didn't he come after me once Lucky was dead?"

"That's a very interesting question, Miss Radisson. When we finally do find Mr. Rayburn I might even ask him that."

Nicco's mouth gaped open, but no sound came out. Nick was sure that the two of them were wearing nearly identical expressions, but he too chose not to say anything to Cavaliere. Instead he moved back from Nicco's side and took her hand in both of his to help her to her feet. She looked somewhat confused by Nick's actions, but she didn't voice any of her questions or complaints. He obviously had a plan, so she was just going to follow his lead, even if she didn't understand his motives.

Once they were both standing, Nick wrapped his arm around Nicco's shoulders and he pulled her into his side. She went without a fight while now trying her best to keep her facial expressions neutral. He could tell, or rather he assumed, that Nicco was confused by what he was doing, so he gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze as a silent 'thank you' for trusting him before he started to lead her towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Cavaliere asked as he stood up and knocked over his chair in his haste to stop Nick and Nicco.

Nick paused, but made sure that he was shielding Nicco with his body before he answered, "Home. We're done here, aren't we?"

"Did I say that we were?"

Nick let out a loud sigh before he said, "I thought that we were. From what Greg has told us here today, it's more than apparent that Nicco has been eliminated as a suspect, so you can't keep her here in connection with Lucky's death. Furthermore, she has told you everything she knows about your actual suspect and she really doesn't need any more of your snide comments while she's healing, so I'm taking her home."

"Like hell you are," Cavaliere nearly shouted as he moved to block Nick's route out of the room.

Gil slowly rose to his feet because he was starting to worry that the situation between his CSI and the detective was going to go beyond being just a verbal exchange of heated words. Nick had moved Nicco from being tucked into his side to standing behind him, which was the cause for even further concern for Grissom. He shared a worried look with Greg but neither of them attempted to say anything just yet. But at the same time, both of them were poised to jump in to stop something unfortunate from happening if it came down to that.

Once Nick was sure that Nicco was safely standing behind him, he replied, "Do I really need to remind you of what Nicco pointed out to you yesterday? She isn't under arrest, so you can't compel her to be here. She has come in, again, as a courtesy to you. Since she has told you everything she can about everyone that was in her hotel room, there's nothing more to say so we're leaving."

Cavaliere looked like he was going to try to argue with Nick, so Nicco stepped to one side so that she could see the detective better, "And further to that, you are solely investigating the homicide of Lucky Rivero, so you can't use my assault as an excuse to keep me here. I spoke to Cst. Martinez before we came in and she said there was no evidence of anyone else assaulting me, so her case is closed. That means, like Nicky just said, that I don't have to be here. But more importantly, I don't want to be here anymore. You have been nothing but rude and insulting since the start of all of this and I don't feel that I have to be subjected to it any longer." She paused there to take a step forward and took Nick's hand into hers saying, "Come on Nicky, let's go."

As Nicco took a step forward to leave, Cavaliere moved as if he was going to block her path before he held up his hands and stepped away. He gave her a cruel looking smile before he said, "You're right, Miss Radisson, this does conclude your involvement in the matter. The Las Vegas Police Department thanks you for your assistance. Have a nice day and a wonderful life."

"Wait," Nick commented just before Nicco could take another step towards the door. "What about her stalker…? Ian whatever his name is?"

Cavaliere gave both of them wide, innocent eyes as he answered, "I don't recall saying that Mr. Rayburn is suspected of stalking Miss Radisson. At this point we suspect he has a very close connection with the death of Lucky Rivero, but that is the only crime I need to question him about that I know of right now."

"But you…"

"CSI Stokes," Cavaliere interrupted with a disingenuous smile. "If your sister suspects that she may be the victim of a stalk then I would advise her to file a complaint with our reports' desk. But until she does that, unfortunately I don't believe there's any way that I can be of any assistance with that issue."

He then gave a slight bow of his head as he flashed Nick and Nicco another insincere smile before he turned and left the room. The four people he left behind just stared at the empty space the detective left behind. Nicco was glaring at the spot as if Cavaliere was still standing there, so Nick gave her hand a comforting squeeze to regain her attention. It took a couple of seconds before she finally turned her head to look at him. For a brief moment she continued to glare at him before her face softened again.

"Sorry Nicky," she whispered as she forced herself to relax.

Nick replied, "It's okay, Baby Girl" through a whisper as Gil almost sharply said, "Nick? Can I have a word with you? Alone?"

After sharing a look with Nicco, Nick squeezed her hand and then answered, "Sure Gris." He turned back to the younger woman again to quietly say, "Baby Girl, why don't you go with Greg and grab a cup of tea in the break room? I'll come find you as soon as I can, okay?"

Nicco looked like she was going to argue with him at first, but then she closed her eyes and swallowed back her protests. When she opened her eyes again she still looked somewhat unsure, but answered with a solid, "Okay, Nicky."

As she turned to leave the room again, she froze in her place when she heard Grissom say, "There's no need for that. I have to work on a few things in my office, so we can walk and talk Nick." After he received a nod from Nick, Grissom walked over to Nicco and took one of her hands in his saying, "Miss Radisson, I have to commend you on how you handled yourself tonight. The way you were treated by Det. Cavaliere is not representative of the Las Vegas crime lab or police department, so I hope you can accept my sincere apology for that."

Nicco ducked her head slightly as she quietly replied, "I know it isn't, but thank you Dr. Grissom for your kind words. And… and for accepting Greg's… err… CSI Sanders' proposal. I'm sure it would have been a lot uglier in here if you hadn't been present."

Gil's face turned grimmer as he shook his head replying, "And for that I am even more sorry. Now, if you don't mind waiting here, I would like a moment alone with your… with Nick. If that's alright with you."

"Sure," Nicco replied automatically. "I mean, it's more than alright with me, Sir."

Grissom said another heartfelt, 'Thank you' before he made his way through the door.

Nick stopped in front of Nicco and took both of her hands in his to force her to look at him. It was a slow journey for Nicco to move her eyes up his body until she met Nick's eyes. He gave her an encouraging smile as he quietly said, "I promise I won't take long, okay? And if you need me, you just holler for me. You understand me, Nicco?"

"I will Nicky… not that I think I'll need to," she replied with a half-smile.

"Plus, I'm still here," Greg spoke up as he moved closer to Nick and Nicco. "I'll wait here with Nicco until you're done with Grissom."

Nick turned to give Greg a dubious look as he replied, "Don't you have to go to meet up with the detective."

"Please," Greg answered with a chuckle. "He respects my contribution as much as he does Nicco's help. That is to say that we are both severely under appreciated. So until he finally picks up this fine young lady's stalker, I'm free from his tyranny."

"Greg…" Nicco tried to chastise She chuckled slightly, which totally ruined her ability to sound overly serious.

"What?" He replied innocently. "It's true. I've done my job… for now. Until they bring that Rayburn guy in there isn't much else for me to do. I know it, Cavaliere knows it, so I'd be more than happy to hang out with you while you wait for Nick to get back."

"Alright, alright. Thanks Greggo." The younger CSI looked like he wasn't going to take Nick's words of appreciation seriously, so Nick gripped one of his shoulders tightly and then more emphatically stated, "Seriously Greg, thank you for everything. Nicco's right, tonight could have been so much worse if you hadn't asked Grissom to be in the room. And then for you to offer to stay with her… Honestly Greg, I owe you big time man."

"It's nothing, Nick. I'm happy to help."

Nick gave him a tight smile until he moved in to stand in front of Nicco. She turned her timid eyes up towards his face. He hated that she would ever look like he wasn't there to be by her side through the thick and the thin, so he grepped both of her cheeks softly in both of his hands to force her to keep her had where it was. She still gazed up at him through her eye lashes with a look of uncertainty. He hated that after all these years that she could still look at him like she did during the early days that Nicco had lived with his parents in his childhood home because he thought that they had established a stronger relationship than that by now.

To prove to Nicco that nothing had changed, Nick lowered his lips to her forehead to give her a determined kiss. "I'll be back as soon as I can," Nick whispered against her skin before he abruptly turned and left the room.

Nicco wrapped her arms around herself not that the space in front of her was no longer occupied by Nick. Greg watched as she got slightly frustrated with herself prompting him to say, "Nick really does care about you. He's talked about all of his siblings, but you're probably the one he's referenced the most."

Nicco coughed out a tearful laugh before she replied, "Do you know what it's like to be the youngest child?"

"Not really," Greg replied honestly as he moved to stand in front of Nicco. "I'm an only child."

"So am I… technically." Nicco seemed to catch herself after that confession so she quickly added, "I mean… uhh… my biological mother had issues with fertility so she kind of thought of me as her miracle child. Most everyone in their lives thought that my bio-dad had felt the same way. Turns out that I'm probably the reason that he killed my mother and then let himself be killed by the police. Then I got adopted into a family where I will forevermore be known as…"

"Baby Girl?" Greg offered in the hopes to silence the tears he heard creeping into her tone.

"No," Nicco replied with an uncomfortable chuckle. "Only Nicky calls me that. Everyone else in the family calls me 'Baby Stokes' or 'Little Girl', but all of them have always been available to protect me like a mama bear does her cubs, so I really can't complain."

Greg smiled as he hopped onto the table to sit beside Nicco. "But there's still times where their 'love' feels completely stifling?"

"Well yeah, maybe, but… oh… oh God…" Suddenly Nicco covered her face in her hands.

Greg wasn't sure what to do next, so he just stayed where he was seated beside Nicco on the interview table with his hands fisted inside of each other and tucked them between his thighs. Nicco hadn't really noticed Greg's reaction and seemed to get lost in her own thoughts.

After a few moments of nearly crying into her palms, Nicco raised her head out of her hands then said, "They are so going to want me to move back home. And by 'want' I mean mom and dad are going to use every legal maneuver in the books to force me back under their roof until my stalker is caught."

Although to see that she actually wasn't crying, he still remained frozen in his spot when Nicco lifted her face to look at him. When he remained silent, she nearly whispered, "And don't even start me about what that pimp did to me." She then buried her face in her hands and let out a mournful groan.

Greg bit back a laugh before he placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Then I guess we need to find your stalker and throw him in jail before they can find out."

Nicco tried to laugh until another thought hit her. Since she had left Texas, she hadn't actually exchanged a single spoken word with either of her parents. Maybe her mom still felt the same way that she had when Nicco had fled her home following their overly heated argument. Maybe they wouldn't even car that Nicco had a stalker who had followed her across States' lines and was willing to take a human life because of his feelings for her.

 _Maybe they'll say I'm no longer a Stokes, so I'm totally on my own now._ Nicco thought to herself as she felt tears welling up in her eyes with a renewed vigor.

She hated crying, so Nicco sniffled in a couple of breaths to try to calm herself down. Greg heard the sniffles so he tried to be more covert as he attempted to look at Nicco's face. She was now wearing a sad frown as she seemed to be lose in a stare with her eyes nearly boring a hole in the wall opposite to where she was seated on the table.

Greg reached over and tentatively gripped her arm and quietly asked (so that he wouldn't spook her), "Hey… what thought has put that sad frown on your face?"

For a couple of breaths, it looked like Nicco wasn't going to answer him and then she said (without taking her eyes off the wall), "Do you know the saying 'If you want to make God laugh, all you have to do is tell him your plans'?"

"It's actually a Yiddish proverb. I think the wording is 'Man plans. God laughs.'," Greg corrected without sounding condescending.

That caused Nicco to smile. She then turned to look at Greg saying, "You're right. Mine was really lyrics from a singer that almost no one has heard of. I probably wouldn't have by now either, but my roommate senior year was from Australia, and… well… that's another story. What I meant was that I'm sure that the man upstairs is getting a good ab workout form laughing his ass off at me and my life."

"Oh Nicco, what makes you say that?"

"Just look at my life. After my birth father murdered my birth mother, I get adopted by the perfect family and I just had to go and fuck that right up."

"I'm sure that you haven't. The way Nick talks about you and his family, I can tell that they all love you very much."

Nicco shook her head saying, "I think the appropriate term is 'loved', past-tense. Before I moved out here I legally changed my name. Right after I did it, the final paperwork was sent to my parents' home. Mom almost threw it out, but I got home before she could actually do it. Then I made the mistake of trying to explain everything to her in terms I thought she would understand… like as if I was using legal arguments, y'know? That did not go over well with her and we had the worst fight I have ever had with anyone in my entire life."

"I'm sure that she's forgiven you by now. People say a lot of things in the heat of the moment that they really don't mean. Plus, after what's happened to you, she's bound to forget about anything that had her angry with you. I'm sure a lot of this is just a misunderstanding."

Again Nicco shook her head, but this time she wouldn't look at him as she replied, "We haven't spoken in over eight months. When I first started college I would get in shit if I went forty-eight hours without calling home. No Greg, all will not be forgotten. In fact, I'm sure that mom will have her own chuckle and say that I caused this to happen somehow. That I should have been studying instead of spending a weekend wasting my time and money on getting drunk with my roommate. Oh wait…!" She turned her torso so that she and Greg were looking at each other. "Even better! She'll probably say that if I had of listened to her and gotten myself a boyfriend… or better yet, married instead of keeping my nose buried in a book that none of this would have happened."

"I highly doubt she would say that."

"You don't know my mom," Nicco quietly grumbled to herself.

"Plus, you know as well as I do that stalkers will go after a married woman the same way they do a single woman. Hell, for some of them it's that she's already taken that will start the obsession for them in the first place."

That earned him a chuckle and a more genuine smile. "That is very true." She once again let out a heavy sigh then she slumped in her spot as she said, "My life feels like such a mess right now. All I wanted was to do well in school, get my dream internship and then go on to work at a job I've really begun to admire. Now… now I've been accused of murder, lied to by someone I thought was my best friend and have some creep who's stalking me, but I'll never find out the truth about that because Detective Douche is… well… being a douche."

"Hey…" Greg started as he placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "Don't forget, he isn't the only one trying to figure out whodunit. When we finally do get our suspect into an interrogation room, I will be sure to find out some of the whys. Maybe even all of them… That all depends on how much I'm actually allowed to speak to him."

Nicco gave him a half smile as grateful tears started to well up in her eyes. "Really? You would do that for me?"

"Of course! Trust me, the majority of us do not share the same sentiments as Cavaliere. Just because he's been a jerk to you doesn't mean the rest of us will be."

"Oh Greg!" She quietly exclaimed as she launched herself forward to wrap her arms around his neck. As she pulled him into a hug, she placed her head on his shoulder to add, "Thank you so much. Seriously, you don't know how much I appreciate that."

"I think I can hazard a guess."

Nicco hiccupped in a breath as she sat back. She raised both of her hands up to dry her now wet cheeks. Greg frowned at her reaction, which caused Nicco to sputter out a laugh. She knew she must look horrible, even without her makeup on to destroy, because now her red blotchy skin would be on display in all of its glory.

She swiped her hands over her cheeks again saying, "I swear I don't usually cry this much. But then again I don't really take a lot of pain meds, so maybe they're messing me up. Or it could be that I kind of have been sleeping weird since we started our mini-vacation on Friday. Or I guess…"

"Hey," Greg shushed her by putting a hand on her shoulder again. "So long as I'm not to blame for the tears then we're good. After everything you've been through, both before we met and since, you've more than earned the right to have a good cry."

"You're being too nice, but thank you."

Greg gave her a crooked grin as he slipped off the table to move to the other end of it. He quietly picked up a box of tissues and carried them back over to Nicco. She sort of stared at him like she didn't understand his kind gesture, so he plucked a couple of them out of the box and started drying her cheeks for her.

"The crying may not bother me, but I thought that you might want to at least blow your nose."

Nicco swallowed thickly and whispered out a hoarse 'thank you' just as Nick called out, "Baby Girl!" He rushed over to her side and held both of her cheeks to make very direct eye contact as he asked, "Why the tears Nicco? Cavaliere didn't come back in here did he?"

"No Nicky, nothing like that, she replied as she gently extracted her face from his hold so that she could blow her nose. "Like I said to Greg, I don't know what's gotten into me lately. You know me, I become a blubbering mess what? Once every five years?"

"Well it ain't often that you get assaulted and choked out by a pimp either," Nick replied as he let his hand fall away completely from her face. "You've been through a lot, so just like we talked about before, you're bound to have your moments. No one is going to judge you for that."

"No one but Detective Douche," Nicco grumbled as she grabbed a couple more tissues out of the box to dry her face.

"He doesn't count," Greg and Nick called out at the same time. The two men turned to stare at each other. They both looked like they couldn't believe that the other had said the same thing as themselves. A quiet burst of laughter bubbled up through Nicco's chest until she started to giggle uncontrollably. She couldn't believe that Nick and Greg would look so surprised that they shared the same sentiments since they were the two people who seemed to be consistently sticking up for her, especially when it came to Detective Cavaliere, so why would they look so shocked now?

Nicco's laughter caused the two men to turn now confused looking gazes her way. She apologized a couple of times while she tried to catch her breath. "Sorry. But the looks on your faces! Oh man…" She paused her speech so that she could try to take in a couple of deep breaths to further calm herself down. "Oh man, the fact that I just found that so funny must mean I'm losing my mind."

"Or that you're just overly tired," Nick countered in a soft, gentle tone. "Why don't I get you home so that you can get some more rest?"

Nick reached out to grip Nicco's arm, but she quickly recoiled back from his touch. He immediately let his hand fall to his side while he tried not to let the pain he felt show. He knew that many victims of sexual assault shied away from being touched by any male, including family members, but he had thought that they had managed to avoid that unpleasant curse.

Nicco immediately recognized that Nick had misinterpreted her actions, so she quickly stepped forward and took his hand into hers saying, "No Nick! I didn't… it's okay if you…" She stopped there, closed her eyes and stomped one of her feet. She took in a deep breath and squeezed his forearm as a soft smile spread across her face once the right words had come to her. She then opened her eyes and explained, "I'm sorry Nick. When I… well just now… Thank you for offering to take me home, but you had this look on your face, did… I mean, there's somewhere else you want to be, right?"

"What…? How…?" Nick stuttered out, unable to hide his disbelief.

Nicco's smile broadened at his reaction. "Nicky, you're wearing the same look you had that one time you were home for winter break and you got stuck babysitting me. Remember? I had the chicken pox, mom and dad had to be in court, so…"

"So, I got the honor of making you beef vegetable soup because you thought chicken noodle would make your condition worse. And I had to chase you around the house with calamine lotion to help try to keep you from scratching up your arms," Nick finished for her. "I still can't believe how fast you could run even though you were so sick."

Nicco blushed as she meekly replied, "Sure. Let's go with your version of the events. But that still doesn't change the fact that you had that look on your face, so what's up?"

"It's nothing Nicco, just forget you saw anything that you think you saw."

He then tried to reverse their grips so that he was now holding her arm, but Nicco wouldn't have any of that. She instead yanked her arm away from his reach and took a large step away from him.

"No, Nick, you always have to give concessions to everyone, all the time. I may be tired, but I'm not stupid. Tell me what it is… please?"

Nicco made sure to have a heart-breaking look on her face when she uttered the most pitiful sounding 'please' of her life. Greg had been watching them silently, but seeing that look on her face made him want to say something, or do something. He was certain there wasn't a person no this planet, or rather, very few people who wouldn't want to intervene to help to erase that look off of her face.

He very nearly did make a move, but then he noticed that Nick appeared to feel the same way. The older man then reached out to her and this time Nicco let him take her forearm into his hand as he apologetically said, "Alright, alright. You can put away the puppy dog eyes, Nicco, I'll tell you."

She gave him a brilliant smile that helped everyone in the room to relax. Nick lead Nicco over to the table again so that she could sit on it. Now that they were closer to being similar heights, he held both of her hands in his and said, "Mia Dickerson found some new evidence on a case that I thought that I was going to have to close as 'unsolved'. She wanted to show me all of it, but I told her I'm on leave right now, so she could do that once I'm back on shift."

Nicco's eyebrows knitted together in a thought scowl as she said, "Mia…? She does DNA stuff, right? What…? Uhh… I know you can't tell me details about your cases, but…"

"It's fine, Nicco. It's waited this long," he interrupted in a surprisingly even tone.

Nicco's scowl deepened to show her displeasure at being told something she knew wasn't the whole truth. "Nick," she tried to use a stern, warning tone. "Don't lie to me. I know it's killing you not to go to the DNA lab and hear her new evidence, so give me your keys."

Nick looked down at the hand that Nicco had thrust in his direction and he just stared down at it. His eyes slowly moved up her body until he reached her eyes. She had once again folded her arms over her chest and her mouth was set in a firm line at his reaction. Nick almost let out an inappropriate laugh because no matter how old she was, Nick always found it cute when she tried to act like the tough, older sibling with him.

But he managed to keep his face schooled as he said, "Nicco, I don't feel comfortable with you driving yourself home. It isn't that I don't trust you are a safe driver, it's just that I'd really rather you not be alone right now. We don't know where that Ian guy is and he could very well know what my truck looks like." He took a step forward and cupped her cheeks in his hands and continued, "It would kill me if something happened to you because I was distracted and couldn't be there to be by your side."

"As it should," Nicco retorted in a teasing tone as she removed his hands from her face. "But that's not what I meant, you big dummy. You drive a SUV, I'm really not all that big… see where I'm going with this?"

"You want to sleep in my truck?"

Nicco chuckled at how appalled he sounded with her proposal. "Or just rest. But either way, you can work on your case and I'll be safe and close by… ish."

"I don't know Nicco…"

Greg cleared his throat loudly and walked towards them with one of his hands in the air. "Can I maybe make a suggestion?"

Nick and Nicco turned to look at him at the same time, but it was Nick who answered, "Sure, Greggo, why not?"

Greg smiled and unconsciously puffed out his chest as he replied, "There's a couple of offices that are empty at this time of day and they all have couches in them…"

Both men turned to look at Nicco with a questioning look on their faces. Nicco smiled as she said, "I've slept in worse places. Can I harass either of you for a blanket?"

"Sure, we can grab one alone the way," Greg answered with a shrug.

The younger CSI led the way out of the interview room. Nick watched Greg with a questioning look on his face, but he withheld his commentary. Instead, he just shook his head and then presented Nicco his bent right arm so that he could lead her at his side along Greg's path.

Nicco hooked her arm around his as she said in an exaggerated, faux Southern-Belle voice, "Why I always appreciate the kindness of a fine Southern gentleman."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, Scarlett," Nick replied with a soft chuckle.

Nicco hugged his arm tightly as she checked to make sure that Greg wasn't within hearing range. When she had confirmation that the he wasn't, she stretched up as tall as she could to whisper, "Does this mean that you finally solved that babysitter's murder?"

Nick looked down at her out the corner of his eyes as he answered, "Looks like I… well Mia might have."

"Good," she whispered back as she settled with her head against his upper arm.

Nick reached across his body with his left hand to pat her head lovingly. Everyone in the lab was duty bound not to disclose sensitive information to people outside of their extended network of coworkers for confidentiality reasons, but there were some cases that he just couldn't keep to himself. It first started with Nicco just asking him about his job and the things she should be prepared to deal with because she wanted to research coping techniques. It didn't take long for that to morph into him telling her about specific cases and the things that were bothering him when he was working said cases.

In his defense, Nicco had extracted the first tidbits of information from him during one of her 'psychology rich' semesters. Plus, he never told her names, so Nick didn't see the harm in it. Plus, he found that being able to talk with her actually had really helped him to sleep better at night. A lot of times people at work would just tell him either what they thought he wanted to hear or just what they wanted to say, but Nicco always told him either what he needed to hear or just the plain old, untainted truth. He wouldn't trade that for the world, so he was beyond ecstatic that Nicco really did know how to be discreet to keep from getting him in busted for his small breach of protocol.

IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG for Nicco to get comfortable and to fall fast asleep. Since she was used to curling up in any available chair, or corner, depending on if she was studying for finals or working on a big paper, so being able to stretch out on a cushioned couch felt like a luxury. Greg hadn't just found her a blanket, he had also somehow snagged her a plush pillow as well, which helped her to find dreamland faster and easier.

Nicco had slept so deeply that she didn't remember anything that she might have dreamt about in that office. But she did remember feeling someone shaking her shoulder gently to force her out of her slumber. She almost wanted to just roll over and deck him one. And hard. In the throat, just like her brothers had taught her to do. Nicco may have grown up closest to Nick while she was growing up, but that didn't mean that her other brothers didn't take time with her to impart their own nuggets of wisdom upon her whenever they got the chance. Unfortunately for any of her wannabe Romeos the common theme amongst the brothers Stokes was the art of the throat punch, or the less favorable nut shot for any of them that got too fresh with her when she had spurned their advances.

Her right hand unconsciously curled up into a fist as she took in a deep breath to tell the intruder where to go (as rudely as some of her other brothers had taught her to do). As she inhaled a large breath of air, she caught the faint whiff of aftershave. That scent brought back some recent racy thoughts that had been running through her mind, so Nicco started to relax in her spot once again.

She wasn't sure if it was her rattled nerves or if it was her lack of good quality sleep, but Nicco decided to do something bold, something unplanned. Normally she researched everything nearly to death to make sure that she would get the outcome she wanted, but she didn't do that today. Today she decided to be the impulsive person that everyone at her schools believed her to be because of her fiery temper.

He continued to gently shake her shoulder as he softly called out her name, so Nicco pretended to stretch out during her initial waking moments. As she rolled over with her arms above her head, Nicco let one of her arms wrap itself around his neck. Thankfully he assumed, much like she had hoped that he would. That she was trying to pull him in for a friendly hug, so he leaned down into her willingly. She managed not to smile as she pulled him down closer to her face.

She felt herself start to smile, so she forced her facial muscles to slacken. He needed to think that she was half asleep for this to work. And it HAD to work. It had to or she would be so embarrassed that she could never show her face around here again.

Once the scent of his skin filled her senses, Nicco flexed her arm muscles to pull in even closer. She finally then raised her face to meet his and placed a solid kiss against his lips. She kept her mouth closed, but there was no room for anyone to misinterpret what she was doing right then.

At first he was so surprised by her bold action that he completely froze in his place. Then he didn't know what came over him, but he started kissing her back; hard and fast.

It didn't take long for Nicco to meet his pace, but when she started to roll onto her back, he resisted until their lips finally were forced apart. She didn't look happy about the loos of intimate contact, but he reminded himself about where they were and forced himself not to care about the look she was now sporting on her face. It was one thing to make out with a girl, but it was a totally different thing to get caught making out with someone at work, especially when that someone had such close ties not only to people in the lab, but also to a high priority case that might be scrutinized by a jury of one's peers.

They both seemed to come to the conclusion that this might not be the wisest course of action at the same time. They separated, almost reluctantly, before he stood up and hurried out of the room. Nicco flopped back against her borrowed pillow and barely found the strength to care that she may have completely fucked up her world ten ways from Sunday based on a whim that she finally gave into for once.


	8. Chapter 8

The next thing Nicco knew, she woke up, alone, in her bed. Well not HER bed, it was the bed in the room that Nick said that she could claim as her own in his townhouse. Her real bed was still hopefully empty in her dorm room with her own linens on them. Not that they really mattered, she tried to tell herself right now. Sure one of her brothers had suggested that she take her comforter from home with her to school to feel more comfortable in any of her dorm rooms, so there was that bit of nostalgia waiting for her at school. Since he had become a fairly successful mechanic who seemed to be happy at work, she took his advice and carted her old comforter from dorm room to dorm room. Now she really wished she had it to wrap around herself because at least then she would feel more at ease about everything that had happened before she got back here.

 _Or maybe_ _that was just a dream and you should stop obsessing about it_. Nicco silently coached herself as she pulled her comforter over her head as she tried to properly remember what had happened at the lab. _I did kiss him, right? And he kissed me back, didn't he?_

She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips and tried to convince herself that she could still taste him. But that wasn't even close to the truth, so she was even more convinced that she had only dreamt about the kiss. Plus, that wasn't something that she normally would do and it made much more sense that it was a wish from her subconscious to have happen.

Almost reluctantly, Nicco threw the covers back and she forced herself to get out of bed. She wasn't sure what Nick had planned for the day, so she just threw on her oversized hoodie on top of the tank top and booty shorts she had put on the night before to sleep in. Thea had always teased her, goodnaturedly, about her 'grandpa PJs' (as she always called them), so Nicco had packed both styles of sleepwear for their weekend away. Her hoodie was so large that it nearly reached her knees, which meant that her shorts really couldn't be seen anymore. But Nicco didn't really care to pay any attention to that. She was comfortable and she would most likely be changing as soon as she knew what Nick had planned for the day anyway.

As she walked into the kitchen, Nicco pulled her hair back into a ponytail. When her arms were raised above her head, her sweatshirt would raise up enough to show that she was in fact wearing shorts. When she got close to the doorway to the kitchen, Nick immediately noticed the expanse of her bare legs. He nearly said something to her until he caught a peak of her shorts while she tied her hair back, so he just as quickly returned to what he had been doing before Nicco entered the room.

"Mornin' Nicky," she called out in a sing-song voice as she moved to sit down at the island. She noticed that Nick was filling up a travel mug with coffee so she asked, "Are you going somewhere?"

He continued to prepare his coffee with his back facing her as he answered, "I'm heading into the lab to work on that file Mia found the DNA match for. I have to get some uniforms to execute a warrant on the suspect's house, but in order for that to get done…"

"You have to finish your paperwork to get the warrant issued," Nicco interrupted with a smile on her face. "That's awesome. So, do you think it will take long? I mean… I'm only asking because I was thinking about making dinner for us tonight. Not that I want to rush you at all."

"Honestly, I have no idea how long I'll be," Nick answered, still not even attempting to turn to face her. "Plus, if they are able to execute the search warrant, then that means that I'll be even longer. And hopefully we'll get our suspect in custody too, which would mean even more paperwork."

"Oh, right. Yeah, that makes sense," Nicco replied more to herself than she did to Nick's back.

She then narrowed her eyes while she watched him make a quick breakfast and throw a few snacks together. He still had yet to address her either by her name or even a nickname. For some reason that bothered her. It bothered her a lot because she couldn't remember a time when he hadn't used some sort or nickname or pet name to address her during a conversation. But even worse than that, he hadn't actually made eye contact with her while they spoke.

All of that added up to her wondering if something was wrong. Her cheeks started to heat up as she began to wonder if maybe her hadn't actually been just a dream at all. Maybe Nick…

 _No!_ She silently told herself, abruptly cutting off that train of thought. _No, if Nick was bothered by it, he would say something. We've always been up front with each other, so there's no reason that he wouldn't be about this right now. Right?_

Nicco continued to stare at his back while she silently willed him to turn around. For some reason seeing his face had become very important to her. She really wanted to see his facial reactions to her comments and questions. They both had some difficulties hiding their true thoughts and feelings from their friends and family, so she was sure that that was the reason he was keeping his back facing her right now. But, if that was true then what subject did he not want her to see his true feeling about?

"So… Nicky is it okay if I borrow your computer? I still haven't gotten my laptop back since they searched my dorm room," Nicco asked in a quiet, unsure voice. It wasn't the question she wanted to ask, but she figured she could work her way up to the bigger question.

Her question caused Nick to pause in his place. She saw his shoulders slump and she thought that he was finally going to look at her. Instead he just placed his flattened palms against the countertop in front of him to try to steady himself. He seemed to have a brief conversation with himself because he started shaking his head as he resumed his tasks in preparation to go into work.

"That's right. We forgot to ask Cavaliere about picking all of that up from the property department yesterday. I'll try to look into that while I'm at the office," he finally replied.

Nicco felt her own shoulders droop while she watched him seemingly ignore her. "Alright… thanks. But if you don't remember, no big. I mean, so long as I…"

"Oh! My computer. Yeah, sure feel free to use it," he cut in. "And eat whatever you want out of the fridge and cupboards. If there's anything you want, just make a list and I'll try to see to doing a shopping trip soon."

"Okay. Thanks. But you know me Nicky, I'm not really all that picky."

"Right," he replied sounding completely detached.

Nicco placed her right elbow on the island and then her chin into her palm as she continued to watch Nick. She let out a soft sigh and then finally got the courage to say, "Hey Nicky, can I…?"

The sound of the doorbell ringing silence the rest of her question. Nick didn't appear to be too concerned that she had been interrupted because he started to walk out of the kitchen as he announced, "That should be Greg."

"What?" Nicco tried to clarify because she wasn't sure that she had heard Nick properly.

When he ignored her questions, Nicco hopped off her stool and quickly caught up to Nick while calling out his name. He still didn't acknowledge her, so she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. For the first time that day, that she knew of, Nick turned and looked down at her, but he only very briefly made eye contact with her.

"Did you say Greg is here? Like to be my babysitter?" She asked sounding thoroughly surprised.

Nick's cheeks started to turn pink as he stated at her hand on his arm. As he opened his mouth to answer, Nicco threw his arm into his side and let out an indignant scoff. She took a large step back and away from him with a stern frown on her face and her arms crossed over her chest because she figured she knew what his answer was going to be.

"You got a fucking babysitter for me? I'm not a child Nick! I can stay home alone you know. Especially here. You keep this placed locked down tighter than Fort Knox since you were being stalked, so I'm absolutely fine staying here by myself."

"Look, I don't have time to argue with you because I have to get into work," Nick replied in a very measured tone. "I told you before that I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone right now and Greg offered to hang out here with you until I get back. Since he's here now, he's staying and that's final."

He started to turn back towards the front door, but stopped when he heard Nicco angrily spit out, "That's final? What? So you think you're my father now or something? Well, Nicky you aren't…"

"My house, my rules," he stated abruptly over the rest of her snide comment.

"Your… wow. Fine, then I guess that I'll just…"

Suddenly Nicco realized that Nick still had yet to take her to her dorm to move the rest of her stuff out and to pick up her pickup truck. That realization did nothing to calm her down. In fact, it seemed to just add fuel to her fiery temper as she added, "Fine, then I guess I'll just got and get my shit from school and go then. Thank you so much for your hospitality."

Nicco said the last part with nothing but pure sarcasm dripping off each word. Nick narrowed his eyes at her and asked as his voice hardened with each word, "Go? And where will you go?"

"Anywhere but here," she nearly hissed out before she turned and nearly sprinted down the hallway to the guest bedroom.

It took Nick's brain a couple of moments to catch up with the situation because this conversation hadn't happened how he had expected. He thought that he and Nicco had been on the same page about her not being left alone until her stalker was in custody. Plus, she and Greg seemed to have gotten along pretty well, so he thought she would be happy to with his choice of… companion. But now that he really thought about it, he realized how it did look like he had hired a babysitter to watch over here, instead of just having a friend to hang out with her like he had meant it to be.

 _Damn, I should have talk to her about this first._ He thought to himself with an audible, heavy sigh.

Nick opened the door to Nicco's room without knocking as he apologetically said, "Look, Nicco…"

"NICK!" She shrieked out with her hands tangled in her oversized hoodie over her head.

In complete and utter shock, Nick stood frozen in the doorway as he stared at Nicco. She couldn't seem to coordinate her limbs once she heard his voice, which meant that she left nearly her entire naked torso completely exposed to him.

After trying to untangle herself for what felt like an eternity, Nicco finally relented and whined out a muffled, "Nicky? Nick!? Are you still in here?"

Hearing Nicco's pleading voice finally snapped Nick out of his own thoughts. He took a couple of small steps forward answering, "Yeah Bay… uhh… yeah I'm here. How…? Umm… What can I do to help?"

"I think my hair is caught on something. Can you look and see if you can untangle me?"

"Sure, of course I can." He placed a gentle hand on the middle of her back and he kept his voice soft as he instructed her, "Just lean down at the waist and put your head on the bed."

Although it was incredibly awkward, Nicco did as she was told. Nick sat down beside her and let out a silent sigh of relief now that he was no longer staring at her naked chest. As gently as he could, Nick moved some of her hair around to try to find the source of the problem. Nicco tried her best to keep her breathing even because she was worried that her knees were going to give out on her before Nick was able to finally free her.

"Alright, I found it. One of the laces from the hood wrapped itself around your hair elastic. Hold still and I'll have you out in a second," Nick explained even though he had already started to untangle the cord.

He couldn't help but to smile when he heard a meek and muffled 'thank you' come from underneath the pile of fabric on the bed. Nicco must have felt something change once he had freed her hair because she slipped out of her shirts even before he had said anything. She landed on her knees with a soft thud and then continued to sit down on the floor.

Nick was still holding onto the ties for the hood of Nicco's sweatshirt and his eyes unconsciously flicked between the garment and her once again nearly naked body. Nicco was so relieved to have the sharp pinching sensation disappear from the nape of her neck that she hadn't even thought about how she was leaving her clothing behind. When she saw the surprised look on Nick's face, she threw her arms across her chest to try to cover herself up as much as possible.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry Nick. I honestly didn't mean to flash you again," Nicco apologized. She kept her arms hugged around her torso as she stood up and moved over to her bag. She kept her back turned towards Nick as she pulled out a black tank top with a built in bra before turning back to look at him. "Seriously Nicky, thank you so much… You know for freeing me and all."

"Happy to help. But why…? Why were you changing?" He asked hoping he could keep any emotions out of his voice. "I thought you felt the most comfortable when you were wearing this."

Nick held up her sweatshirt to emphasize his point. Nicco could feel her cheeks start to heat up so she quickly turned her back to him again. She wasn't sure what she should do to look busy, so she started to look through her duffle bag at all of her clothes in there. Even though she was only going to be in the city for three days, Nicco had packed as if she was going to be away for a week. In the end, that had worked out in her favor because at least now she had a fairly full wardrobe to pick though since Nick had done a couple of loads of laundry for her.

The longer that Nick watched her, the more he realized that some habits most definitely were learned behavior. She was doing exactly what he had done to her in the kitchen and he hated that that wasn't an original move that he had come up with himself. Instead he had watched his mother have silent arguments with his father during his youth. When he had gotten older, he had asked her about it and she had just reminded him that they didn't air out their dirty laundry in front of other people. Most of the time he was able to follow her example, but lately there were times when he couldn't hold his tongue and wait to has things out in private.

That being said, he knew this was one of the moments when he had to resolve this issue in private because it wouldn't be fair to Nicco for them to have an audience. He wanted to get up and pull her into a hug, but he knew that would be the wrong move. Nicco had learned a lot of things from him, but the number one thing was how to fight back against any unwanted advances. And he really didn't want to fight with her, especially physically, even if he could acknowledge that it was ultimately his fault that they were at this point of no return right now.

He placed his hands under his thighs as a physical reminder for him to stay on the bed and to keep his hands to himself. He watched her move stuff around her bag. He knew she was just doing something to look busy and that it was just an added bonus that it allowed her to keep her back facing him.

"Nicco?" He questioned again, but this time he let his emotions show in his voice. "Nicco, please, will you…?

"Finally," she breathed out as she turned to face him.

Nick frowned at that response, mostly because it wasn't what he had expected to hear. Nicco actually chuckled at the look on his face. She leaned against the set of drawers behind her and placed her elbows on top of it in a stance that looked so naturally sensual that Nick's mouth started to dry up so much that he almost couldn't speak.

"You finally remembered I have a name," she said with another chuck on her lips. I thought that maybe it was a cop thing or something to forget people's names and to talk to them like they aren't a whole person. I never thought I'd put you in the same category as Det. Douche, but if the shoe fits."

Nick's eyes went wide for a second before he could regain control of his facial features. Nicco's eyes twinkled with unheard laughter causing him to crack a smile. "Tell me I didn't just hear that."

"You didn't just hear that," she replied with a teasing laugh evident in her voice.

She then turned back to look into her duffle bag. This time he was sure that she was actually looking for something to wear. His suspicions were quickly confirmed when he saw her pull out a familiar faded, formally bright right t-shirt with a large white number '7' and the name 'Rodriguez' on the back of it. Next she extracted the now recognizable grey sweat pant capris that she had worn at the police station, but she didn't put them on.

Instead she turned back around to face Nick and finally answered the first question he had asked when he had come into the room, "I know that they say 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas', but… but I really didn't want to be that weirdo that arrives on campus in her pajamas. I T.A. a couple of classes and that would be the number one way to have some interesting rumors to start going around about me."

Nick once again looked surprised as he asked, "So…? SO, you were serious? I mean about leaving that is."

"In the heat of the moment I was," Nicco replied in a much meeker tone. "But that doesn't mean that I really don't want everything back. That includes my freedom, Nick. I've been on my own for nearly seven years now and the last time I felt this suffocated…"

"You changed your name and moved to Nevada?" He made it a question and tried to sound teasing because he didn't want to be the reason that their dialogue ceased right now.

One side of Nicco's mouth pulled back in a half smile as she replied, "Sort of. Did you know that mom went behind my back and sent my transcripts to Law schools?"

"What? No! No, I had no idea about that at all," Nick answered in genuine shock.

Nicco watched as he started to stand up, but he quickly forced himself to remain seated. A tear escaped Nicco's eye as she commented in sincere awe, "You really didn't know. Good. That's really good to know, but it doesn't change the fact that I really want my stuff back… even if I don't get to stay here."

Nick gave her a sympathetic smile as he replied, "I meant it when I said that you could stay here as long as you needed to. One fight won't change that Nicco."

"Oh…? Okay… okay good." She smiled softly to herself and added, "Good. So I need to finish getting changed and you should go let Greg in before he gets a complex or something."

Nick let out a sudden burst of laughter because once again the woman standing in front of him was just Nicco, his Baby Girl. He then wiped the smile off of his face before he almost solemnly stated, "About that, I honestly didn't..."

"Nick," she interrupted in a very firm tone. "I may have reacted immaturely earlier, but you're right. We agreed that we don't know enough about what my creeper knows about us for me to be by myself. I shouldn't have been such a baby about Greg being here. I know your choices of chaperones could have been much, much worse."

Nick finally allowed himself to stand up and take a tentative step towards her saying, "But that doesn't excuse me for not talking to you about it first. I'm sorry..."

Nicco nearly ran into his arms and hugged him tightly. She hit him in the chest with so much force that she knocked the breath out of his lungs. She didn't really notice what she had done because she was already saying into his chest, "I'm your Baby Girl and you look out for me and... and I do appreciate it, even if I forget to act like it sometimes."

"I try to at least. And I'm sorry today has been so weird, but..."

Nicco pushed back against his chest and tried to finish his sentence for him saying, "But you have a murderer to catch. I know and I get why you've been so distracted today. Honestly, I'm sorry for being such a jerk earlier. I just... I thought you were... anyway it really doesn't matter. I admit that I was wrong and again I'm sorry for it."

"Alright. I forgive you... on one condition."

Nicco looked up at him through her lashes and said, "Anything, just name it."

He took a small step back and held his right hand out towards her with his pinky finger pointing out. "Do you pinky promise you aren't going to hold today against me?"

Nicco's first reaction was to curl her lip and say, "You aren't being serious."

Nick shook his hand at her saying, "Come on Nicco, I dare you."

She gritted her teeth slightly before she hooked her pinky finger around his. He smiled brightly, which flashed some rather deep dimples that always seemed to melt the ice that wanted to form around her heart. As she watched his smile get wider, she tightened her hold on his finger with hers and said through her teeth in a faux sounding annoyed tone, "I pinky promise."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Nick pulled her into his chest to give her a bear hug. Once she felt herself hit his well muscled chest, Nicco just melted into it. She hated fighting with anyone from her family, but it always seemed worse when she was at odds with Nick. He had been the first person she had told about the 'black goo' she thought had killed her birth mother and he had never tried to tease her about it, so fighting with him always felt worse because he was the first person she had ever truly trusted with all her heart. It didn't take long for Nicco's arms to snake their way around Nick's waist so that she was hugging him just as fiercely as he held her.

"I love you, Nicco," he whispered against her hair.

She squeezed her arms tightly around his waist and replied into his chest, "I love you too Nicky."

They seemed to be content with just hugging each other until Nicco gently pushed against his hold so that they could look each other in the face again. She wasn't sure how she should interpret the look on his face, but she didn't want to let it dissuade her from getting out what she needed to ask.

"Hey Nicky? Since Greg is here and all, I'm guessing that he drove himself here, right?" She asked as she slowly backed away from him.

As he watched her tentatively move away from him, he immediately realized what she was doing right then. His arms didn't want to let her go, but he still forced them to fall at his sides. She took a couple more steps back while he remained nearly cemented in his place.

At first he wanted to ignore her question, but then she started to pull out her nearly patented 'puppy dog eyes'. He held up a hand to keep her from asking anymore questions. She almost glared at him because she wasn't sure what he was thinking in this moment and she thought he was just going to dismiss her inquiries.

He tried to give her a reassuring smile as he answered, "Yes, I'm sure that Greg drove himself here, but I don't really see how that would be of any importance right now."

"Well, I was thinking... If Greg and I are hanging out, there's no rule saying that we have to do it here, right? I mean..."

"Nicco..." Nick tried to interrupt her.

She held up her hands and nearly pleaded, "No, please hear me out."

Nick crossed his arms over his chest and looked somewhat dubious, but answered, "Okay."

Nicco gave him a brilliant smile. "So, Creepy McCreeperson might know what your truck looks like, but what are the chances that he'd know Greg's? I mean, there's no way for him to know we've sort of become friends. Plus, in all of the pictures of him, he wasn't exactly being stealthy and I for one haven't seen him around your place anytime we've left, so he might not even know I'm staying here. So... What if Greg and I get bored and find a movie we want to go see? There'd be no harm in that, right?"

"I don't know..."

Nicco didn't acknowledge that he had tried to interrupt her and just continued, almost in one long run-on sentence. "Or maybe Greg could take me to my dorm room to grab the rest of my stuff. I mean, if he doesn't know what Greg's truck looks like then he won't know to look for me there. We grab my shit and BAM, no more worrying about him jumping me there or something. I could drive Greg's truck and he could drive mine back here and park it in the garage and no one would be the wiser. Well, no one but us that is."

"Nicco," Nick tried once again to cut-in.

"Please, Nick? I promise I won't run away or anything. I didn't really mean it when I said that earlier. I was just mad at you and I wanted to hurt you. Please, Nicky? Please?"

He started shaking his head and said, "It's still too risky. If he doesn't know that you're staying with me, then this is the safest place for you to be. I promise, we'll go to your dorm soon and pick up all of your stuff."

She crossed her arms over her chest and stomped one of her feet, once again looking like a petulant child. "Oh yeah, sure. And by 'soon' you mean 'never', right? Because something else will probably come up and we won't have time to go out there. Well fine. If you're okay with me wearing the same five outfits, then I guess I will be too. And when my truck gets towed because it's a new semester and that isn't my parking spot anymore, then you can pay the tow fees. That's all fine because at least I'll be safe and sound here in your little Fort Nick. Like Rapunzel in her tower..."

"NICCO!" He nearly shouted more out of shock than anger

"No, like I said, it's fine. I don't care anymore. I mean..."

Nick stepped up to Nicco and gripped her by the upper arms and she fell into a shocked silence without finishing her last thought. In that moment, Nick wanted to hit her. He wanted to shake her. He wanted to do anything that would get her to listen to reason. But instead of doing or saying something that made sense to him, he moved his hands up to her cheeks to hold her head steady and made very direct eye contact with her. Before she could try to speak again, he then placed a hard kiss against her lips.

Nicco had actually managed to convince herself that the kiss she had initiated with him in the office was just a dream. Now that she felt Nick's lips pressed against hers, she was beginning to question everything.


	9. Chapter 9

The channels flicked by so fast that you couldn't really register what you were seeing properly. Greg continued to channel surf, but he let his eyes wander to his right so that he was actually looking at Nicco. She appeared to be staring at the TV with the fingers of her right hand covering her mouth, although he couldn't tell if she was lost in a thought or if there was something else that had captured her attention since it didn't appear that she was actually watching the TV.

He didn't really know if he should bother her or not, but he was getting kind of worried about how quiet she was being. After Nick had finally answered the door to let him in, the two of them had been able to have a very brief conversation. Nick warned him that Nicco had had a bit of a rough morning and not to be surprised if she wasn't her usual self. Greg hadn't expected her to be a bubbly hostess type while he was there, but he hadn't expected this. Right now she almost looked as shell shocked as she did when he saw her for the first time in her hotel suite at Caesar's Palace.

Just briefly remembering what Nicco had lived through caused a cold shudder to run up his spine. He put the remote down on the arm of his chair and then turned his upper body to face Nicco as he softly called out, "See anything you like?"

"Huh?" Nicco mumbled in reply as she started to move her head to face him with her hand still covering her mouth.

Nick had left the blanket Nicco had used the first night she stayed with him folded neatly on the back of the couch. He had said his goodbyes to Greg while Nicco changed. When she emerged from her bedroom and found Greg on a reclining chair in the den, she had made a beeline to the opposite end of the couch from where he was seated. Out of habit, more so than feeling cold, she had pulled the lightweight blanket down and curled up under it on the couch. She had really wanted to lay down and go back to sleep but she didn't want to be rude. Instead, she curled her legs under her body with the blanket over them and her right elbow on the arm rest.

Greg took not that she had her right hand over her mouth and wondered if it was just a habit of hers or if it was something else. What he didn't know was that she was actually just savoring the tingling sensation on her lips. She had been almost half asleep during her first kiss with Nick, so now that she was alert and able to remember their second one, she wanted to relish the moment. There was no mistaking it for a dream, but she did keep replaying it over and over again in her mind because she almost could believe that it had happened. And that HE had been the instigator this time. That last part was the thing that surprised her the most and made the butterflies in her stomach flutter wildly.

Something about the look on her face must have told Greg how distracted her thoughts truly were because he pointed at the TV with the remote and asked, "Did you see a show you'd want to watch or would you rather watch a movie?"

Nicco shrugged and then reluctantly pulled her hand away from her mouth to answer, "No, sorry, I didn't see anything that caught my eye. But, in all honesty I'm not really that picky. I'll watch pretty much anything. Umm... except for westerns. Well, old timey ones, I still love 'Tombstone' because you can never go wrong with Val Kilmer. So, yeah... whatever you feel like watching, I'm down with that.

"Okay, how about a movie? That sounds like a good idea to me," Greg replied with a relieved smile on his face. That was the first time Nicco had given him more than a one word answer since she had come into the den and he couldn't hide how nearly giddy that made him. "Hey? Do you think Nick would ever buy microwave popcorn?"

Nicco chuckled and then replied, "I don't know, but he does have a microwave, so there's hope. Why don't you pick a movie and I"ll see about getting us some snacks?"

"Sure, sounds good," Greg replied with a wide smile. "But before you disappear on me, you've got to be honest with me..."

Nicco stopped in her path halfway to the door and turned to look at him, hoping that her cheeks weren't as pink as she felt that they might be. She discreetly swallowed back the fearful lump that was trying to form in her throat as she answered as nonchalantly as possible, "Yeah, sure Greg. What's up?"

"Everyone says that they'll watch anything, but they really mean that they'll watch anything except for a few specific genres. So, really? What will you automatically veto or what are you kind of in the mood for? And remember, you promised to be honest."

Now she did feel her cheeks heat up because she knew that he was right. She unconsciously bit the right corner of her bottom lip and replied, "I'd veto anything too lovey dovey or too serious. I've cried enough for the next decade thanks. I'm always down for a good action movie with hot guys or a baseball movie. Although, Nick's all about the pigskin, so I highly doubt that you'll find many, if any, baseball movies in his collection."

"Alright... action, hot guys or a diamond," Greg stated with a cheeky grin. "I think I've got it."

"Greg!" She exclaimed with a chuckle.

He held his hands up and gave her a look so innocent tha tit looked completely earnest as he replied, "What? That's your criteria for a good movie, right?"

Nicco couldn't help but to laugh at the look on his face. Nick had told her about everyone that he worked with, but now she totally understood his failed attempts to describe Greg. Whenever they got to the point where Nicco continued to repeat a phrase similar to 'be serious' or 'you're just fucking with me', Nick would always reply with his new version of 'if you knew him it would make sense'. Finally, all of the pieces had fallen into place and everything that Nick had tried but failed to explain to her actually did make sense. She then made a mental note to tell him just that when he got home as well.

"You're terrible!" She finally replied through a chuckle. "But yes, that's the gist of it. Now I have a question for you. Do you just want popcorn, or should I try to raid the cupboards for something else?"

"Popcorn with butter is fine," Greg answered with a look on his face that said that wasn't his complete response. "But then again, I guess that we'll need some suitable beverages as well to go with it."

"Alright, popcorn and drinks coming up," Nicco replied as she moved towards the kitchen again.

It didn't come as a surprise to her that she didn't find any microwave popcorn in Nick's cupboards, but she did find popcorn kernels and an air popper. As she set it up with a bowl on the counter, Nick laughed silently to herself as she wondered how heartfelt Nick's promise to buy whatever she put on a shopping list truly was because she was sure that there were a few of her favorites that he would be loathed to buy. But then again that was before he had kissed her and nearly ravished her wholly and completely. Now that there was going to be a change in her status with him, she was sure that there would be some fun benefits to go with it.

While she was looking through all of the cupboards, Nicco had found more than half a dozen oversized boxes of chocolate cover almonds and chocolate covered peanuts. For a split second she wondered if she had stumbled upon one of Nicky's dirty little secrets because the last time she checked, Nick's guilty pleasures were a good side of beef, either in steak or burger form, and beer, preferably in a long neg, glass bottle. But then she pulled a couple of the boxes out to examine them. They were still sealed tightly closed so she knew that he hadn't been binge eating on them at all.

 _So why does he have enough chocolate to keep me happy through my bouts of PMS for nearly a year?_ She thought to herself as she continued to look the boxes over.

The instant that she saw the labels with different school names on them, everything became completely clear. Anyone who knew Nick knew that he had the world's biggest soft spot for kids. She was sure that it didn't take anything more than a simple 'Mister will you help support...' (insert sport, band or anything else at the end) before Nick was pulling out his wallet to buy at least one box of candy. She double checked the names on the boxes and laughed softly to herself. For a split second she thought that they all might have the same school name on them because she remembered hitting her sales goals more than once when Nick had been home visiting when she was younger. All she (or anyone under the age of sixteen) had to do was bat her eyelashes and he would buy as many boxes as the cash in his wallet would allow.

Standing in the middle of his kitchen, Nicco could see the smile that would have been on Nick's face when he bought these. In her mind's eye she saw him with a paper bag filled with groceries balanced on his left hip as he exchanged his bills for the boxes. The little girl (because in her mind it was always a little girl for some reason) would thank him again and he would watch with a smile so wide that his dimples would look like they would never go away as she ran back to her table where her classmates and their parents were waiting.

The scene that played out in her mind warmed Nicco's heart so much that it almost hurt. Even though he never actually intended to eat any of the candy he bought, Nicco knew that Nick really was happy to buy it and never begrudged the children for seeking him out to do so. His kind heart and generous spirit were just two of the many reasons that Nicco had falling in love with him when she was in high school.

She heard the popcorn finishing, so she forced herself out of her reverie to finish preparing their snack. She replaced all of the boxes except for one that contained milk chocolate covered peanuts. She was tempted to just pour them into the popcorn while it was still warm, but she didn't want to be rude in case that wasn't Greg's idea of the perfect snack, as crazy as that might be. Instead she poured the small amount of butter she had melted on the top of the popper onto the popcorn and gave it a couple of tosses to make sure it was spread throughout the bowl. After she picked up the bowl, she tucked the box of chocolates under her arm and made her way back to the den.

Just before she hit the door, Nicco remembered that she had also promised to bring beverages. She quickly turned around and moved over to the fridge. Inside she found pretty much what she had expected; a carton of 1% milk, a pitcher of water, a six pack of beer bottles and a jug of orange juice. She let out a dejected sigh and placed what she had in her hand on the counter as she let out another soft sound of complaint. Milk, water and orange juice were great, for breakfast, but they just didn't feel right for a movie night. She then gave the beer bottles a long, lingering look, but her weekend of binge drinking with her roommate's imposter still sort of caused her to have an aversion to anything alcoholic.

"Come on Nick," she whispered to herself as she opened the fridge again to move a few things around. "You have beer for crying out loud, you have to have something... Yahtzee!"

Behind a couple of containers that looked like some sort of protein shake, Nicco found six plastic bottles of Dr. Pepper. Well... Diet Dr. Pepper, but she honestly preferred the taste of the diet pop over the regular. She should have known that a good Texan Boy like Nick would have Dr. Pepper in his fridge, but before she found the boxes of chocolate the only non-health food item she had witnessed in his house was the bacon he had made for her the other day, so she had started to doubt him.

She loaded herself up again with the bowl of popcorn, box of chocolates and bottles of soda and made her way back to the den. Greg had relocated onto the couch with four DVDs lined up on the coffee table. When Nicco noticed his new placement, she paused mid-step. But she then just as quickly kept moving as she told herself that she was just being silly. They were going to be sharing a bowl of popcorn, so it made sense for him to sit closer to her. Plus, Nick had said that there was a good chance that she and Greg could become friends so she forced herself to relax and not to over think things right now.

She then frowned at the thoughts running through her mind. Now that she would no longer be speaking to Thea, mostly because she was worried that she would tear fistfuls of her hair out if she ever saw her him person again, Nicco realized that she really didn't have many friends. Actually, she really didn't have any friends in Las Vegas. Being a bit of a loner wasn't new to her, but for some reason it made her kind of sad right now.

With a resolute shake of her head, Nicco continued forward calling out, "So we were right, no microwave popcorn." She heard Greg's soft groan, so she was laughing as she moved around the couch to her spot. "But I still think we scored. Air popped with real melted butter..." She placed the bowl on the coffee table. "And chocolate covered peanuts. Plus... actual name brand soda to wash it all down."

Greg's nose crinkled slightly in disgust as he put his hand out to claim one of the bottles. "Diet?"

Nicco quickly pulled the bottle away before he could touch it and said, "Oh no you didn't! This is Dr. Pepper, nectar of the gods. Even though it's zero calorie, diet soda, it's still the nectar of the gods."

Greg chuckled and reached for the bottle again, but Nicco pulled it back out of reach again. With a very stern look on her face. she very seriously said, "If you want to drink it, you need to apologize to it."

At first Greg looked like he was going to laugh her off, so Nicco raised a challenging eyebrow in response. He quickly sat up straight and tried to stutter out a reply. Although she tried her best to keep a straight face, Nicco couldn't and soon started to giggle.

She then threw the bottle into his lap saying, "Wow, you are even easier than Nicky." She quickly curled up into her corner of the couch with a satisfied smirk on her face. When she noticed that Greg was just staring down at the bottle in his hands, she quickly sombered her tone and sounded truly contrite when she said, "I honestly was just joking, I... I didn't mean..."

Greg shook his head to silence her as he leaned forward and placed the bottle on the coffee table. "No, it isn't that. I guess now that you've shaken it up, I'll just have to wait before I open it."

Nicco's mouth dropped open at the deadpan tone Greg used. He then scooped up a handful of popcorn as he picked up the box of chocolates to knock a couple of pieces into his palm along with their salty treat. Now her mouth dropped in a wondrous awe because he kind of felt like a kindred spirit. She also began to totally understand why Nick liked hanging out with him even though they seemed like total opposites. IN a way, he was sort of like a male version of her.

"Or we could just dump the box into the bowl to make it easier," she said through a laugh.

Greg quickly chewed what he had in his mouth before he answered, "It's okay, we don't have to unless..."

Nicco leaning even further forward to pick up the box silenced his protest. As she saw back with the box and the bowl in hand, she explained, "I thought about mixing them in the kitchen, but I didn't want to be rude. But now that I know you have great taste in snacks, let's hear what you've come up with for our entertainment for tonight."

"Oh? Okay. Well, Nick isn't as square as either of us thought that he would be. So, I only pulled out a few picks for now. There are others if these don't meet your fancy."

"Fancy? Really? Alright, hit me Greggo."

Greg paused for a second at hearing the nickname only his coworkers had used for him, but he recovered quickly to say, "First we have 'The Transporter'. Although I personally don't get his appeal, I've heard that..."

"Nope, veto." Greg gave her a shocked look at her swift interruption, so Nicco explained, "You're right, he's hot, but I don't know you well enough to sit through that sex scene. Sorry."

"Alright," he replied with an uncertain tone. "Next we have 'XXX'."

Nicco smiled then said, "Mmm, that GTO and Vin Diesel? Decent and possible watchable. Next?"

He picked up the third DVD case, but Nicco snatched it out of his hand before he could speak. "No way!" She exclaimed softly.

"I know; I was surprised too that he owns 'The Rookie'. I was thinking that it would probably be a shoe in for you."

Greg moved to take the DVD from Nicco, but she moved it out of his reach and placed it back on the coffee table. She didn't have to see the confused look on Greg's face to know that it was there so she answered his unanswered question saying, "It is a very sweet story and that it's based on real events, heart-wrenching. And that was just the book. Then you get the Disney polish on it? Well, I told you I don't want to cry tonight. But it does give me hope for my Nicky. He really is a good Texan who loves stories about one of our own prevailing over overwhelming odds. But it's still a no. Maybe another night. Next?"

"Alright. All good points. My fourth pick, I'm going to preface it by saying that in my book it's an action movie, not a cop show. But here."

Nicco looked over at the case he was holding up and smiled. "Ooh. LL Cool J is hot, Samuel L Jackson is badass, no racy sex scenes, no overly touching moments and that Irish guy is easy on the eyes. I say good choice Mr. Sanders."

He beamed then said, "Really? You're down for this?"

"Absolutely."

Once he stood up to put the disc into the DVD player, Nicco quietly started singing the old theme song for 'S.W.A.T'. Greg chuckled then joined in as well. While they were both quietly singing, Nicco poured the whole box of chocolate covered peanuts into the popcorn bowl. She quickly stirred it all together before she returned to her 'nesting' (as Nick always called it) on the couch.

Once she was settled under the blanket, Greg sat down at the other end of the couch with the remote in hand.

"Ready?" He asked in an easy-going, non-judgmental tone.

Nicco place the large stainless steel bowl between them and scooped up a handful of the salty, chocolatey popcorn as she replied, "Ready when you are, Greggo."

Even though Nicco had already seen this movie and looked forward to seeing it again, she had to force herself to try to focus. She didn't want to be rude to Greg by letting her mind drift off topic, but she just couldn't seem to help it.

 *******Flashback*******

 **After she tried to be dismissive with a snotty remark, Nick gripped Nicco by her upper arms, causing her to fall into a shocked silence. She stared up at him and swallowed thickly because she couldn't read the expression on his face. The best that she could tell, it looked like he was sifting through conflicting thoughts while trying to decide what to do next.**

 **Nicco opened her mouth to apologize to Nick, but again was rendered silent. This time it was by Nick placing his hands on her cheeks. She was sure that he was doing it to force her to make eye contact with him, but then he shocked the breath out of her. Before her brain could compute what was happening, Nick lowered his head so that he could place a fairly forceful kiss against her lips.**

 **Since he had acted so distant and aloof that morning, Nicco had convinced herself that her kissing him in the lab had just been a dream. But now that she felt the softness of his lips pressed against hers, she wondered if she had completely misread his actions in the kitchen. Maybe he was just confused about his own feelings for her and was just trying to process everything. Maybe...**

 _ **Maybe you should shut up brain and kiss him back!**_ **Nicco scolded herself silently.**

 **Nick had softened the intensity of his embrace and had gently started to move his lips against hers. Nicco moved her arms around his neck and looped her right arm up so that she could press the palm of her hand against the top of his head. As she started to hug his neck, Nick's hands moved to Nicco's waist. He pulled her in closer to his body and actually lifted her up slightly off the ground to lessen the height difference between them.**

 **When Nicco felt Nick lift her off the ground with so much ease it caused her to gasp into his mouth. He took advantage of that and slipped his tongue into her mouth to caress hers. Nicco nearly melted then. She let out a soft moan as she squeezed her arms around his neck. They both let their passion out and the intensity of the embrace grew until they were forced to separate to take a breath.**

 **Nicco was feeling nearly faint with excitement, which caused her to go almost completely limp in Nick's arms. While Nick tried to catch his breath, he watched Nicco and huffed out a laugh at the look on her face. Her eyes were closed and she had what he could only describe as a goofy grin plastered on her face.**

 **At hearing Nick's soft laughter, Nicco's eyes flew open. He could tell that she was getting ready to start getting mad at him again, so he quickly placed a kiss on her lips. She one again melted into the embrace and tightened her hold on his head.**

 **This time when he leaned back, Nick didn't let go of her cheeks and instead rested his forehead against hers. He let his eyes drift closed she he felt her let out a soft sigh against his face before he nearly whispered, "Nicco, please..."**

 **"Okay," she interrupted in a dreamy sounding tone.**

 **Nick jerked back but didn't let go of Nicco's face. Her eyes fluttered open and a sweet smile spread across her face as their gazes met.**

 **Nick had a dubious look on his face as he asked, "Do you even know what you're agreeing to?"**

 **"Yes," she replied as she hooked her index fingers around a belt loop each to pull him flush against her body. "I'll stay here with Greg, safe and sound in Fort Nick, until you get home... or send in his relief because you're puttin' in some O.T. on you 420A."**

 **This time when Nicco said 'Fort Nick' she made it sound like a place where she was actually happy to be, which caused Nick to smile more easily. He moved his hands from her face to around her waist so that he could hug her back.**

 **"You're really okay with that, Baby Girl?" He asked with his lips pressing against her hair. "Are you sure you aren't going to get all riled up on me again?"**

 **Nicco chuckled into his chest and shook her head replying, "No promises because I might snap at you again at some point tonight. I think I have like PMS or something. Oh... oh no!" She pushed back on his stomach so that she could look up into his face to worriedly ask, "That was a total overshare, wasn't it? But seriously it might be that or maybe I'm feeling a little cooped up in here. I... I honestly don't know."**

 **"It's not an overshare, Nicco. But everything that's happened..."**

 **"Isn't an excuse to be a jerkwad to you, Nick," she interrupted as she buried her face into his chest. "And I'm sorry for throwin' a conniption fit about how you were actin' in the kitchen. I... I was just so confused about how I felt after... ummm... after what happened back at the lab."**

 **"I was too," Nick replied quietly against the side of her head. "When I woke up today, I wasn't sure how you would react, so..."**

 **"You figured solving a case would be a good way to ignore me," Nicco confidently finished for him. "Sorry, I meant to get your thoughts together. I swear, I ain't mad, but Greg might be fixin' to pitch a fit by now."**

 **It wasn't often that Nicco slipping into a full Texan accent along with using strong slang, so Nick just stared at her for a second. She loved being able to surprise people from time to time, especially Nick. Right now, she just smiled to herself and silently savored this small victory.**

 **While he still looked like he was in a bit of a daze, Nicco leaned up to peck Nick's lips before she said, "Your phone's ringing. I'm guessing that someone thinks that we ditched him." Nick startled in his place as if he had just been shocked out of a thought or dream, so Nicco pet his cheek then quietly said, "Hey, it's alright, Sugah. I've have to get dressed anyway, so you go let him in and I'll fix m'self up. Alright?"**

 **Nick's smile widened and his dimples deepened into shallow crevasses in his cheeks. She nearly swooned right then and there, but she never got a chance to fall over. Instead, Nick tightened his hold around her waist and leaned down to huskily say into her ear, "First, say it again."**

 **Nicco just let Nick hold her against his side while she tried to think of what he was referencing. She started to lean back to look at him and then it hit her.**

 **"'Sugah'?" She asked sounding like she was nearly in disgust. "That's what our server at the diner called you too. Does...?"**

 **Nick kissed her into silence once again then said, "It only sounds sweet coming from your lips."**

 **"Nick, you are hopeless," Nicco replied with a chuckle. Before Nick could think about looking hurt, Nicco added, "A hopeless romantic. But we can continue this later, after you've bagged your perp."**

 **He smiled and scooped her up into a hug replying, "I'll hold you to that, Baby Girl."**

 *******End flashback*******

The sound of a phone ringing slowly brought Nicco out of her reverie. At first she thought that it was from a scene in the movie, but once her eyes refocused on the TV screen, she realized that wasn't it. There was no sound coming from the TV's speakers because the movie had been paused during one of her favorite action scenes.

She also noticed that she was laying down on the couch instead of being curled up into a ball at one end. For a brief second she thought that she may have actually fallen asleep, so she shot up in her seat. Once she was more alert, she noticed that Greg was no longer in his spot on the couch. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen in the room at all.

 _Oh great! Just great. Fall asleep on the guy who's doing you a favor by hanging out with you so that you don't freak the fuck out at every little sound you hear in Nicky's place because you think it's your stalker coming to get you. Awesome way to show your gratitude, Dumbass._ Nicco berated herself in her head as she sat up and tried to straighten out her hair and clothing.

Just as she was about to stand up and fold her blanket, Greg reentered the room. He smiled at her then moved back towards the couch to reclaim his spot. Nicco watched him with a wary eye because his smile didn't quite hit his eyes and looked kind of forced. She had yet to meet anyone with a similar look on their face who didn't have bad news to go with it.

"Sorry I took longer than I expected," he explained as he took a swig form his bottle of pop.

Nicco let out a sigh of relief and answered, "It's no problem. Is everything okay?"

Greg's cheeks pinked slightly and Nicco almost retracted her question. Now that she was more awake, she remembered hearing Greg ask if it was alright if he paused the movie for a nature break. Even though her thoughts were a million miles away, lost in a daydream, she actually did manage to reply to him something along the lines that it was no problem.

Now her question caused a full blown blush to spread across her cheeks. She then said, "I didn't…" as he replied, "Actually…" at the exact same time. Nicco's hand went over her mouth to silence any other stupid comments that wanted to escape.

Greg gave her a sympathetic smile and tried again to answer, "Actually, I got a call on my way to the… facilities."

"Really? Do you mind me asking who it was and what they wanted?" Nicco asked as she started to relax in her place again.

"Hodges. He works in the lab. But don't worry if you don't know his name, you haven't met him yet."

Nicco giggled then said, "Brown-noser who analyzes trace evidence. Nick's told me about him. Well… to be fair he's told me about all of you."

"That… wow… okay…" Greg replied through his own bout of laughter. "Alright, so… yeah, that's him. He called to say that he overheard that Rayburn's been arrested and that they're bringing him in for questioning any minute now."

"They are? Oh, so I guess that means that you have to go in then, huh?"

All of the humor fled from his expression before he answered, "I don't have to, but if I don't we might never find out about how obsessed he really is with you. I honestly don't think that Cavaliere will bring you up to him at all now, so I would really like to be there to get you the answers you deserve."

"Okay," Nicco stated plainly as she stood up and folded her blanket and draped it over the back of the couch like Nick had done before. "Just give me about five minutes and I'll be ready to go."

"You…?" He started sounding thoroughly confused.

Nicco smiled softly then explained, "Nick won't be happy that I'm leaving here without him, but he'd be wicked pissed if I'm left here alone. That gives us no choice, so I'll have to go with you and I don't want to go there looking like a total scrub, hence the need put something else on."

Greg's eyes bulged out slightly as Nicco spoke. His mouth went unnaturally dry, which made it hard for him to speak when he replied, "Y-you're right… I'll… I'll… uhh… I'll wait here while you change."


	10. Chapter 10

Nicco found herself again in the breakroom the police station. This time she was staring into a mug of coffee, mindlessly stirring it with a wooden stick. She felt kind of self-conscious because she was wearing almost the exact same outfit that she wore the last time she was here. Only today she was wearing a pair of tennis shoes instead of her cowboy boots and she had completely forgone putting on any makeup. Her emotions had been so out of whack lately that she didn't see the point in wasting time fixing her face up just to have it ruined once she got here. Plus, everyone who worked at the station had seen her bruises enough times that most of them seemed not to react to them anymore.

While she was looking though her duffle bag, she couldn't help but to feel slightly dejected. Sure she had brought more clothes with her than most people would need for a three day trip, but most of them were far from being 'professional' or 'business casual'. Instead they were club wear or something more akin to work-out clothes, included a couple of very revealing bikinis. She hadn't expected to really need anything else because she was quite fine with hitting a buffet or going to a restaurant in her sweats, so she had only packed one polo shirt and a single pair of jeans to take with her. Hopefully, today would be the last day that she would have to worry about that.

"Nicco?"

She turned at the sound of Nick's voice and jumped to her feet. Before he could utter another syllable, she moved towards him hurriedly saying, "Hey Nicky. I know I promised not to leave home, but then Greg got a call from… from… Shit… What's his name in trace about some uniforms picking up Rayburn, so he wanted to come in to be a part of the interrogation so that he could find out more about him stalking me. I tried calling you to let you know about the change in plans, but you didn't answer your pone. I left you a voicemail and I tried texting you but we couldn't wait for your reply, so…"

"Nicco, Nicco," Nick replied as he gently pulled her into a hug. "Hey, take a breath, Baby Girl. I got your messages… all six of them. I was just checking in to see how you're doing."

"Oh, me?" She tried to shrug and feign nonchalance. "I'm fine. How's everything going with you?"

Nick squeezed her into his chest then quietly reprimanded her saying, "Nicco, come on now. I know that isn't the truth. You usually reserve run-on sentences for special occasions."

She let him lead her back to the table, but she was reluctant to let go of him to take a seat. He noticed how she was clinging to him and somehow managed to get them both onto a chair without forcing their bodies too far apart. Once she was seated, Nicco cuddled in close to his side, content just to be held by him. Since no one knew about what had transpired between the two of them, she wasn't worried that anyone would misinterpret what they were seeing since he had already established the precedence of giving her comforting hugs in the lab.

After she had settled in against Nick's side, Nicco quietly said, "The honest truth is that I'm kind of freaking out and that's bugging me."

"Why would that bug you?"

She shrugged and for a split second Nick thought that that was going to be her only reply. Nicco then shrugged again before she nearly whispered, "He's here in this building. That's just weird to me. But the worst part is that I don't know how I feel. Like I don't know that I want to hear about why he's stalking me or how long he's been doing it. But in the next breath, now that he's here how can I not find out the truth? I just… I don't know… I'm just so conflicted, I don't even really know how I feel about any of the anymore."

"Hey, it's okay to be confused right now," Nick replied against her hair. "Nothing about anything you've been dealing with is normal, so don't beat yourself up for it taking some time to process it all."

"I know… and thank you, but it still doesn't change the fact that…"

"That not having a clear grasp of your feelings is bugging you," Nick interrupted as he pulled Nicco impossibly closer into his chest. "I know the feeling. You just take your time. Whatever you need from me, you just tell me and I'll do everything in my power to make it yours."

Nicco shifted slightly in his arms so that she could drape her legs over his lap. He moved his right arm to the small of her back and then down to her buttocks so that she was seated on his thighs much like she had done when she was younger. He wrapped both his arms around her torso as he silently marveled at how tiny she still felt in his arms. It was a familiar feeling to have her tucked in under his chin, but now it felt like she was meant to fit there; like they were two pieces of the same puzzle to make the whole picture.

Once she had her legs draped over his lap, she turned his head and pressed her nose against his neck. Being held in his arms always made her feel safe and protected. He felt the sigh she expelled against his flesh while she let a sense of relief wash over her. Of everything that could and would change in her life, she was glad that this was one thing that hadn't changed, the she still felt safest while being held in her Nicky's arms.

She rolled her head ever so slightly so that she could press a soft kiss against his throat. She knew her movements were so minute that no one would be able to tell what she had done. Sure she really wanted to lean up and press her lips to his, but she didn't want to draw attention to them. She knew that no one would think twice at seeing them cuddling together, but watching them make out in the middle of the break room? Well, that was a whole different story.

She placed another soft kiss against his flesh before she rested her cheek against his chest and whispered, "Can you just hold me, Nicky? Even if it's just for a little while?"

Nick pressed a kiss against her hairline answering, "Of course I can, Baby Girl."

**** Meanwhile in the interrogation room ****

Detective Cavaliere stared across the table at the brown haired, green eyed, clean cut, twenty-something year old male who was on the other side of the table. Although he had already looked through numerous snap shots and surveillance photos of him, the detective still couldn't believe that this man was a cold blooded murderer or a hot blooded one for that matter. No, he looked like a clean-cut college student who had a bright future waiting for him, not a scumbag who would more than likely be ending up on death row in the not so distant future.

Without actually opening the file folder that was laying on the table top, Cavaliere slipped two photos out of it to place them in front of his suspect. The younger male's eyes bugged out slightly, but he managed not to open his mouth. Instead, he raised his eyes to meet the detective's and waited until he was questioned.

Cavaliere was well versed in this game of cat and mouse, so he very confidently asked, "Why don't you tell me about those photos?"

In turned to his right and gave the middle aged man with grey hair cut so short that he almost looked bald a questioning look. The lawyer moved his wire-rimmed glasses further up his nose as he looked the pictures over. They didn't appear to be at all objectionable, so he nodded to let his client know that he was free to answer that question.

Ian let out a soft sigh and moved the photos closer to himself. As he replied, "These are from a much easier time in my life. Why do you want to know about them?'

Cavaliere ignored his suspect's question and instead focused on his previous statement asking, "You said these were from an easier time in your life, why don't you elaborate on that?"

After letting out another sigh, Ian slumped slightly in his spot. "Nothing much to say. It was easier because I didn't have to worry about anything. I was in a Frat, so girls and booze were always on hand. My parents were footing the bill so money wasn't an issue. I partied hard and had fun without a care in the world, so those were much easier times."

"But that isn't true anymore? What changed?"

"I flunked my classes. Like pretty much all of them/ By the time most of my Frat brothers were seniors, I was just barely scraping together enough credits not to be kicked out of school. This photo?" He held up the one of him wearing a cap and gown. "My buddy let me borrow his for a couple of shots so that I could send them to my grandmother. She always said that she wanted to see me graduate from college before she died, this was the closest thing that I could give her in the end."

"Alright, so you didn't graduate from Texas A&M, is that why you left Texas and moved to Las Vegas?"

"Partially," Ian answered with a self-deprecating scoff. "When I didn't graduate, my parents cut me off. That forced me to move back home because I couldn't afford to live on my own out of State."

"Okay. And once you moved home you…?"

Ian silently consulted his lawyer again. The older male just nodded because he wasn't concerned with this line of questioning at all.

"I got a job at Caesar's Palace and have been going to school part-time. Well, a little less than part-time but it's all that I can afford right now."

Cavaliere made a show of jotting down some notes in a handheld notebook. He made sure not to turn his eyes away from his notes when he asked, "And where are you currently enrolled?"

"At UNLV."

A corner of Cavaliere's lips quirked back as he finished writing in his book. After he had set it aside on the tabletop, he turned to make eye contact with his suspect. "No let's go back to your work. What is it that you do at Caesar's Palace?"

"I work in the kitchen mostly, but lately I've been trying to make the move into room service delivery."

"Oh really? So, why have you made the big career move?"

The sarcastic bite in the detective's tone caused his suspect to bristle in his place. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Ian's lawyer placed a firm hand on his forearm to silence him. He then leaned over and spoke very quietly into his client's ear. Detective Cavalier and CSI Sanders watched as the lawyer's words registered with their suspect and he visibly deflated in his seat.

After he was finished speaking to his client, the lawyer sat back and nodded towards the two men on the other side of the table. Ian nodded his understanding of that silent direction and then he took in a slow deep breath.

"I've been told that the tips you get delivering room service is second only to dealing in the casino. I suck at card games, so it's the next best option while I pay for school."

"Alright, so while we're on the topic of your work, why don't you tell us about how it was for you two nights ago?"

Once again Ian looked like he was deflating in his spot as he hung his head and nearly whispered his reply, "I'd really rather not talk about it."

"And why is that?"

The suspect tried to straighten up in his spot and to look the detective in the eye, but he couldn't quite pull it off. Greg could see the slight flinch in the other man's eye and he almost felt bad for him. Almost. But then the CSI reminded himself that the man across from him more than likely had been stalking Nicco and all of the feelings of compassion completely disappeared.

After a couple of silent minutes, Cavalier sat back and crossed his arms over his chest as he asked, "Well, Mr. Rayburn? What is it about your work the other night that has you being so quiet all of the sudden?" He then picked up a file folder and removed the three other photos he had used during his last interview with Nicco. Once they were all laid out on the table he asked, "Would these photos have anything to do with why your night really wasn't all that great?"

"What? No… well…" Ian picked up the photo of him standing outside of Nicco's dorm's building and he laughed softly to himself. As he placed it on the table again he answered, "I guess they kind of do. The other night was rough because I found out my girlfriend has been cheating on me."

Greg tried not to react, but he couldn't help himself. He let out a low, indignant scoff that their suspect responded to immediately. Ian sat up and looked much more confident than he had previously as he angrily asked, "Do you find the fact that my girlfriend is cheating on me funny, Mr. Sanders?"

Cavaliere gave Greg a hard look that he CSI promptly ignored. He knew that he probably should have kept his comments to himself, but he couldn't help it. He was well aware that the man in front of him was probably completely delusional, so arguing with him right then would be futile, but for some reason he had to say something in reply to his insane comment.

"First, I wouldn't say what happened to Nicco could be considered cheating. And second, I'm not sure you can call someone your girlfriend unless she too is aware of the relationship."

"Nicco? Who's Nicco?" Ian questioned sounding genuinely confused.

"Sorry," Greg answered in a tone that was anything but contrite. "You would probably know her better as 'Cole', but her real name is Nicolette, Nicolette Radisson."

Ian gave Greg a blank look before he turned to look at his lawyer. Not knowing any more information than what had been said, Ian's lawyer shrugged and then motioned for Ian to go ahead and say what he knew his client wanted to say. So far this interrogation had been much easier to handle than he had thought it might be, so he couldn't see the harm in offering up some honest information of which law enforcement was not aware.

Ian gave his lawyer a quick nod and then turned back towards Greg to say, "I don't know who this Nicco or Cole person is, but my girlfriend's name is Thea. And trust me Mr. Sanders, she knows that we're together and what she did in that hotel room… well from what I heard she will know that she was cheating on me."

"Thea?" Greg and Cavaliere asked at the same time.

Ian let out another sigh and then said, "Sorry, her real name is Athena…"

"Ericksen. Yes, we've heard of her. Now let's go back to her cheating on you," Cavaliere interrupted. He once again picked up his notebook and this time he actually looked like he was interested in their pending conversation. "Let's revisit that topic before we move on to something else."

This time Ian didn't look over at his lawyer before he spoke. They had already discussed how his lawyer wanted this part of the interrogation to go prior to Ian surrendering himself to authorities. He was to relay his tale to investigators up until a point where his lawyer would stop in to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself during the interview.

"I knew that Thea was going to spend the weekend at the hotel with her roommate because I had used by employee discount when she booked the room. Wait… Cole? That's her roommate at school right? Sorry, she and I haven't actually met, but Thea has mentioned her once or twice. Anyways, I knew where she would be staying and kind of figured that we could hook up while I was on my breaks or something."

"That sounds like a good plan. What happened instead?"

"Well, I had told her that I had the weekend off because I wanted to surprise her…" He let out a sardonic laugh then said to himself. "Yeah, surprise. Only it was me who got the surprise."

Ian startled in his spot when he realized he had been mumbling to himself. He briefly made eye contact with Det. Cavaliere and CSI Sanders and said, "Sorry, got off track for a second. Alright, where was I? Right, so I knew where her room was and would stop on her floor whenever I delivered a meal or picked up the dishes after people were done. On one stop I saw Thea and tried to catch her eye, but she was having a pretty heated discussion with some guy. I almost went over to help her but she suddenly went form looking like she was getting ready to deck him to nearly jumping up and down for joy and… and kissing him, so I hid in an alcove while they went into her room."

"A heated discussion?" Cavaliere plucked out an eight by ten mug shot and placed it on the table in front of her suspect. "Is this the man you saw her arguing with in the hallway?"

Ian picked up the photo and practically sneered at it as he replied, "No, but he was in the room too."

Cavaliere nodded and placed the photo of Eric Johnson back into his file folder. He then pulled out the other mug shot and handed it over to his suspect asking, "How about this guy? Is he the one you saw arguing with Miss Ericksen in the hallway?"

"Y-yeah, th-that's him," Ian stuttered out his reply.

He had tried to maintain is composure, but seeing that face again caused him to unconsciously react. His skin turned an unnaturally white color and he found it hard to swallow, so he scooped up his glass of water and took a long drink from it.

Greg shared a look with Cavaliere because that was much closer to an admission of guilt than they had expected to receive today. But they both tried to play it cool. Cavaliere wanted a confession and he as more than happy to let Rayburn talk himself into a corner before he got it.

"Alright," Cavaliere started in the humblest, most comforting tone that Greg had ever heard him use. "Let's get back to what you were telling us about Thea. What else happened with her that night?"

At first it appeared that Ian wasn't going to answer because he continued to drink from his water glass. Once it was empty he placed it back on the table. As soon as his hands were empty, Ian started rubbing his temples as if he was trying to ward off a headache.

"Because I had anticipated surprising Thea, I had made arrangements with a buddy of mine so that I could do all of the deliveries. We'd still split the top fifty/fifty, but I'd be doing all of the work. I figured that way I could sneak over to Thea's suite and check if she was 'free' or not. And then…"

He paused there again and covered his face with his hands. His lawyer placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in to whisper something to him. They wanted him to look vulnerable and like a victim to get the Detective into his corner. It was the best way his lawyer knew how to work at negotiating a more lenient sentence. So, while it looked like the lawyer was saying some quiet words of encouragement, he was actually giving his client coaching tips about his acting to help them accomplish their goal.

Cavaliere actually waited until the lawyer sat back before he tried to gently prompt his suspect saying, "And then what, Ian? What happened next?"

Ian let out a soft, dramatic sigh and lifted his face out of his hands. If the detective and CSI didn't know any better, they would say that it looked like he had tears in his eyes when he answered, "And then we got THE order. The one I thought that… well anyway, I thought that Thea had seen me at work and that it was her way of letting me know that she wanted me to visit her."

Cavaliere waited a couple of breaths and when his suspect didn't continue he asked, "And what order was that?"

Ian let out a self-deprecating laugh as he answered, "Fries and gravy. It's the most disgusting combination that I have ever heard of before, but Thea loves it. Anytime she knows that I'm coming to meet her after work, she would ask me to bring her an order of it… every single time."

"That's a pretty specific craving," Cavaliere commented in an understanding voice. "So what happened out of the norm when you delivered her favorite dish to your girlfriend's room?"

Everyone in the room could see that Ian was starting to get visibly upset, so his lawyer leaned over to try to whisper a few words of reason. Greg remained perfectly still because he could see that their suspect only had eyes for the detective. Although he had heard some truly horrible tales from the interrogation room, right now he was more than happy to have this man by his side. Cavaliere was going to break Ian Rayburn and Greg really didn't care how he did it. It was a selfish motivation, but Greg felt that Nick and Nicco had earned that kind of solidarity from them.

The lawyer continued to try to calm his client down while Cavaliere subtly tried to push him over the edge. They both knew that the photos of Ariel's pimp and john had caused the biggest reaction with their suspect, but it was Greg who pushed the file folder closer to the man seated beside him and tapped on it a couple of times to get the detective's attention. Cavaliere turned his head to give Greg an annoyed look, so the younger male lifted an eyebrow and jutted his chin in the direction of the folder.

For a second Cavaliere just stared at Greg until a thought dawned on him. In his defense, he never thought that Greg would have a thought remotely similar to his, let alone the exact same one. Very discreetly, he pulled out the two mug shots and slid them across the table as he asked, "Who opened the door and ruined her perfect surprise for your girlfriend?"

"Him!" Ian replied as he punched the photo of Eric Johnson on the table with the side of his fist.

His lawyer gripped his client's forearm and quietly said, "Ian, you have to calm down, now."

Ian nodded and closed his eyes while he took in a couple of slow, deep breaths. "Sorry," he replied sounding much calmer. "But that was the guy who answered the door and signed for Thea's food while she… well anyways. That guy answered the door."

"Alright," Cavaliere stated as he wrote down a couple of notes. "So you delivered the food, Mr. Johnson signed for it and then you left."

"Not exactly," Ian answered still sounding like he was forcing himself to be calm. "He was still getting dressed, so I carried the tray in and left it on the coffee table for him."

Ian shook his head and fell silent again. Even though he didn't want to reminisce about that night, Ian's brain started replaying what he had heard that night. His hands went up to cover his face as he shook his head almost violently form side to side. It was of little comfort to him that he only heard what was being done to his girlfriend in one of the bedrooms because his imagination ran wild and created its own scene for what might have been going on. Now anytime he closed his eyes, it was all that he could see and think about, even if he didn't want to remember it at all.

"I take it that you saw something unpleasant?" Cavaliere asked in an attempt to prompt his suspect.

Ian started shaking his head as he answered, "No, I just… I got to hear it… and that guy…"

When Ian trailed off, Cavaliere asked, "Mr. Johnson?"

"Yeah, him. He was such a… Anyway, he just shrugged and said that she was energetic," Ian answered as he picked up the john's mug shot once again. "Who says something like that to a perfect stranger?"

"It's Vegas. People let go of their inhibitions," Greg said. "A lot of people say and do things here that they wouldn't at home."

That response caused Ian to smile softly, "That's very true. So, after his distasteful comment, Johnson there just sort of shrugged again like 'what can you do' and continued getting dressed. I… I almost decked him one right then and there, so I just left."

"But that wasn't the last time you went to the room," Greg stated in a calm, firm tone, to Cavaliere's dismay.

Ian shrugged, trying to sound and look nonchalant, but he couldn't quite pull it off. Anyone with a trained eye could see that his features had hardened at whatever thought had come to mind. That meant that his lawyer had noticed the minute changes in his client's demeanor as well. He tried to grab Ian's arm to get his attention, but the younger man pulled away before he could be touched.

Ian then turned his head and nearly hissed out, "Don't try to stop me."

"But Ian…"

"I mean it. If you try to stop me again, you're fired."

Since Henry Rayburn, Ian's father, was one of his biggest clients, the lawyer backed off completely. He knew that he was being paid, and very well at that, to keep his client out of jail, but he couldn't force Ian to keep quiet. He had already stressed to the younger man that the less he said, the better off he would be. He also reminded him more than once that his father was paying him a handsome salary to do the talking, but if the kid wanted to ignore all of his expensive advice, then there wasn't much that he could do. It wouldn't be the first time that he would have to spin a new web of 'truths' to keep the person who signed the checks happy.

The lawyer then threw his hands up in surrender and sat back. There was only so much that he could do to mitigate the stupid of his clients. While Ian started to dig himself into a hole, he would take this time to plan out a strategy to do as much damage control as he could muster.

"Mr. Rayburn?" Cavaliere asked, trying to get his suspect back on track.

"Sorry. And no, CSI Sanders, you're right, it wasn't. When I saw that there was another order to her room, I tried to talk my buddy into doing it for me. Turns out that the allure of getting paid to do nothing is a little too attractive. That meant that I got the honor of delivering food to her room again."

"And what happened then?" Cavaliere asked, finally let some of his eager, anticipation be heard.

Ian shook his head as he replied, "Nothing that I had planned. Again, I expected to trade the food for a signature, but he was on the phone, so I had to carry it in again."

Cavaliere lifted up Lucky's mug shot and asked, "This man?"

Ian refused to look at the photo as he replied, "Yeah, that's the piece of shit who…"

His lawyer coughed into his fist, but he didn't say or do anything else to stop his client. Ian looked over at him with the thought of warning the older man again. But he didn't have to say anything like that because his lawyer had his eyes on his notepad where he was writing something down.

Ian turned back to the investigators and forced himself to cool some of the heat in his veins while he spoke. "Yeah, Detective, that's him."

"Alright, so you try to deliver the food, but Lucky's on the phone, so…?"

"Lucky? Seriously? That's his name?"

Greg wanted to laugh or smile at the surprised and disgusted tone Ian used, but then he reminded himself who the man seated across from him was. Sure he might not be stalking Nicco, but he was still a murderer, so he couldn't allow himself to laugh at his jokes.

"That's his name on the streets," Cavaliere answered dismissively. "But you were saying…?"

"Right, sorry. So look, I get that I'm in the service industry, but some people… It's like they think we're their servants or something. Anyway, so he's on the phone, bragging about how he violated… I mean about his latest conquest. He didn't even have the decency to come to the door fully clothed."

"You mean he was…?"

"Nah, man not like that. He had his pants on, but they weren't like pulled up all the way and his fly was partially undone. I normally don't notice shit like that because… well… I'm not gay or anything, but when I noticed the scratches on his shoulders, I had to divert my eyes."

"Scratches…?" Cavaliere flipped through the pages in his notebook until he got to his notes about the crime scene. "Right, there were three on each of his shoulders. Do you think Thea gave them to him?"

Ian unconsciously scratched at his left shoulder blade as he replied, "She gets handsy when she's really turned on."

They all sort of paused there to let everything sink in. Greg and Cavaliere knew that those scratches hadn't been the result of a woman getting lost in the throes of passion. Instead they knew that they were a woman's desperate attempts to fight off her attacker. Greg was sure that it wasn't long after she had scored his flesh that Lucky had choked Nicco into unconsciousness. The only saving grace of that was that Nicco wasn't actually awake or alert during the most brutal parts of her assault, so that part of the ordeal hadn't plagued her thoughts or dreams.

"So I guess this is the part where I tell you what you want to hear," Ian stated with an oddly detached tone.

"Well I would like to hear the truth, Mr. Rayburn," Cavaliere replied as he once again held his pen at the ready to take notes.

"Truth? Heh… well the truth is that nothing would have happened if he had of just taken his food. But no I had to carry it in and listen to that son of a bitch run his mouth off about what he did to my… to Thea. So, officer here's what happened…

So, douchebag there hangs up the phone and then starts saying shit about how he worked up a huge appetite and I just lost it. I don't really remember what happened next but all of the sudden he's on the ground, I'm sitting on his chest and I have my hands wrapped around his neck. Once I realized what I was doing, I got up and went back to work."

"And when you left the room, what sate was Mr. Rivero in, Mr. Rayburn?"

"Honestly Detective, I don't know. I let go and left so fast that I didn't check, but I take it from what the officers said while I was being arrested that he wasn't breathing. If that's the truth then I can't really say that I'm sorry about that, no after the things he was saying about Thea."

"You're right, Mr. Rayburn, he most likely wasn't breathing when you left the room. Unfortunately, the broken hyoid bone in his neck saw to that." Cavaliere paused there and pulled out a file folder from the pile on the side of the table. He pulled out a pile of photos and laid them out on the table. "Since you have been so open and honest with me, I feel that it is only fair if I do the same. First, I want to assure you that Athena Ericksen was nowhere near that hotel suite two nights ago. The woman you saw arguing with Mr. Rivero is Athena's twin sister, Artemis." He pushed forward 'Ariel's' mug shot before he continued, "What you witnessed in the hallway was more than likely a heated negotiation between an escort and her pimp."

"What?" Ian whispered in disbelief as he picked up the mug shot of the woman who looked exactly like his girlfriend. "I don't… but I heard…"

Greg then pulled out two of the photos Catherine had taken of Nicco in the hotel room and took over the narration. "What you overheard when you were delivering Ms. Ericksen her snack was anything but consensual. After seeing what he did to Ms. Radisson, some people might even call you a hero for putting that sick, sadistic bastard down."

Ian picked up the two photos of Nicco and absentmindedly asked, "Miss Rad… this is Cole? Thea's roommate? And Thea wasn't…? You mean she didn't…?"

"No, Mr. Rayburn, Thea wasn't there at all," Greg clarified. "But…"

"But you are still under arrest for the murder of Lawrence 'Lucky' Rivero. If you would stand and put your hands behind your back, this deputy will escort you to be booked," Cavaliere said over the rest of Greg's statement.

Looking like he was in a daze, Ian stood up and put his hands behind his back. The deputy, who had been standing in the corner of the interrogation room behind the suspect, silently secured a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. Ian's lawyer shook his head in disappointment as he watched his client be led out of the room because it felt like such a waste. He had a carefully planned strategy to make this incident look like it was self-defense, but now he would be lucky if the D.A. even contemplated accepting a temporary insanity plea.

While he watched his client be escorted out of the room, the lawyer stood up and said to the detective, "I assume you will have something for my client to sign?"

"We should have the paperwork done in the next couple of hours."

"Very good. I would like to read them over before you present them to my client."

"Of course. Why don't you come with me and we can go over everything?"

They both then left the room and Greg was left alone, sitting at the table. He was stunned that his first case was now closed. And with a confession form the suspect no less. He had worked in the lab long enough to know that this was far from usual, but then again nothing about this case had been what he had expected. No one, except for his victim, was who the investigators had predicted they would be and never tried to hid who he really was in the world. Not that he thought that Nicco had been hiding who she was, it's more that she wasn't' who you would have assumed she was if you were to take her at face value when you first met her in that hotel room.

 _Nicco…_ "Nicco!" Greg quietly exclaimed to himself. "I should go and tell her the good news."

He then hastily got up from the table and rushed into the hallway. Since he hadn't really been paying attention to his surroundings he ended up running into and almost knocking over one of his coworkers. Luckily she had been watching where she was going, so she was able to minimize the damage that their collision could have caused.

Sara let out a nervous laugh as she helped Greg straighten out and asked, "Whoa Greg, where's the fire?"

"Sorry Sara, I was just…" Suddenly Greg realized that he wasn't sure where he was going. He had left Nicco in the break room, but he had no guarantees that she would still be waiting for him there. "Have you seen Nicco or Nick by chance?"

"Yeah, they're in the break room and they look like they're having a pretty serious discussion. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm about to deliver some news that I'm sure will lighten both of their moods."

"Wait! Does that mean…?"

"Yep. Got a confession on my first homicide as the lead CSI."

"Really? That's… wow. Congrats, Greg."

"Thanks. But I should catch them before Nick heads back to work on his cold case."

"Right. But we should celebrate later."

"You read my mind Sara," Greg called out as he continued down the hallway. "I'll come find you when I'm done with this."


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Greg made it to the break room, Nicco and Nick were seated side by side on their own chairs. Nicco was once again stirring her coffee without paying any attention to the actions of her right hand. Instead her gaze seemed to be fixated on the male seated to her left. Similarly, Nick's eyes appeared solely focused on Nicco's face.

After Greg had silently opened the door, he just as quietly entered the room. He wasn't sure why he hadn't called out some sort of salutation as he entered the room, like he had the last time, but for some reason this time was different. There was something about the low tones the other two people were using as they spoke that compelled him to be mute. Their tone was familiar and comfortable in a way that you rarely see between two people. Certain friends, select family members could pull it off easily and comfortably and for Nick and Nicco it was done so flawlessly that Greg almost felt bad about having to ruin them moment.

"No, the semester is pretty much over, so I'll just have to talk to my academic advisor about what I have to do next. I mean, I should just to make up my final exams, but I honestly don't know if they'll want me to do anything else."

 _School?_ Greg thought to himself as he smiled and shook his head. He was sure that from their current closeness that he was walking in on a conversation much more private and salacious. The subject of catching up on school definitely wasn't anything he would feel bad about interrupting. And yet, Greg still remained silent.

"Well, Baby Girl, it makes sense that you should be able to get to do some make up exams. I mean, after…"

Nicco snorting in an unhappy breath cut off the rest of Nick's statement. "After all…" She started to finish in an exasperated voice as she sat back and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Nicky…" She opened her eyes and they immediately landed on the newcomer in the room. "Greg!"

Nick sat back as he replied in a confused tone, "Greg?"

"No," Nicco answered with a laugh. She gently gripped Nick's chin and turned his head so that he could see his colleague. "No, not like that. Hey Greggo. How'd the interrogation go?"

Greg moved further into the room so that he could take a seat at the table across from where the other two were seated. "Actually, Nicco, it went very well. But, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation at all."

"Pssht," Nicco replied with a wave of her hand. "We were just talking about make up exams, nothing exciting or that can't wait until later."

Nick smiled brightly and took Nicco's left hand into his right under the table. "Yeah Greggo, Nicco's more than ready to start her summer vacation. But, where she's spending it will all depend on what you've found out."

With another dramatic eye roll, Nicco let out another unimpressed scoff. Greg now wasn't certain what conversation he was in the middle of between the other two, and that make him a slight bit more uncomfortable. So far he and Nicco had synched together in an odd friendly, familiar way, but right now that didn't feel true. Normally he would have blamed the third person in the room, but he and Nick were friends as well so that didn't make much sense. He and the older CSI had their own unique bond, so he didn't want to blame him for the odd feeling in the room either.

Greg subtly shook his head as he reminded himself that they both thought that Nicco was the victim of a crazed stalker. Who wouldn't feel on edge knowing that some creep had been following them around without them knowing? AND that said creeper had crossed States' lines to do it?

Yeah, that would make anyone a bit squirrely. Especially after what Nick had had to live through.

 _Yeah, no wonder there's a weird vibe in here_ , Greg thought to himself while he planned out how to tell them the good news.

"Well, I think you'll be ready for a thirty city tour after you hear what I found out," Greg replied with a huge grin.

Nicco frowned and then looked over at Nick to see if that response made sense to him. He looked equally confused, so she turned back to Greg and asked, "Thirty cities? Why so many?"

"To visit all of the baseball teams' stadiums."

Nicco could tell that he had been trying to be cute and clever. But she couldn't help but to chuckle. "Oh, you mean thirty stadium tour. It's only twenty-eight cities."

Greg looked like he didn't understand her reply at all, so Nick hastily added, "Chicago and New York have two teams, so twenty-eight cities with thirty Major League stadiums. Now, why is Nicco…?" Nick said the next part through gritted teeth. Why is she going on her dream tour?"

Everyone could hear the eye roll during the words 'dream tour', so Nicco let go of Nick's hand so that she could grip his thigh. She hoped that Nick would understand her sentiments without reacting so much that he would tip Greg off. In return he gave her a soft smile and then covered her left hand with his right and gave it a soft squeeze.

"Oh shit," Greg softly cursed. "I was supposed to be keeping your secret."

"It really wasn't much of one," Nicco confessed with a meek smile. "I just try not to rub his nose in my love of baseball too much."

Nick cleared his throat purposefully causing Nicco to turn back to face him. "What? You gave me that shirt, so you can't go and be pissed at me for wearing it."

Nick's cheeks started to pink, which told Greg that he didn't want to pick at that topic any more than he already inadvertently had done. "Alright, so…" Greg commented as he cleared his throat to regain their attention. "So, the long and the short is that he… Rayburn, wasn't actually stalking you Nicco."

"What? But…? But, what about the pictures?"

"You were right. You both were attending Texas A&M at the same time and you did have a lot of classes that overlapped. Actually, much like you, his parents had expected him to become a lawyer. Although, in the next breath, unlike you he let the Greek lifestyle get the best of him."

"What?"

Nicco sounded so small and lost that nick moved his left arm around her shoulders and hugged her into his side. Greg gave them both a sympathetic smile as he replied, "I meant that he let being in a Frat get the best of him. By his own admission, he let that lavish lifestyle rule his better senses. He ended up basically flunking out of school, so his parents cut him off… financially. That meant that he had to move back home so that he could get a job and try to go back to school and all."

"To Vegas?"

This time it was Nick who asked the question. Greg nodded and then answered with one of his own, "You've heard of Rayburn Electrical, right?"

"Of course," Nick replied sounding mildly offended. "They hold the majority of the contracts to do repairs whenever a casino needs anything fixed on their marquees. Why do you…? Oh…"

"Oh what? What did you just figure out, Nicky?"

Greg opened his mouth to reply, but Nick quickly held up a hand to silence him. Once he got the nonverbal confirmation that the younger CSI would keep from speaking, Nick turned to Nicco and said, "Come on Nicco, you can put two and two together. Ian Rayburn's associated to Rayburn Electrical here in Vegas…"

"Ray… Oh, shit!" She turned to look at Greg as she asked, "Is that like his dad's company or something?"

"That's exactly it," Greg answered. "His parents' plan for his life was for him to attend his father's Alma Mater and pledge the same Fraternity until he finished his undergrad and then he was supposed to go to law school and join his dad's company's team of lawyers."

"Okay, but he flunked out, so what's the new plan?" Nicco asked.

"Well, he moved home once his parents refused to foot the bill for his Playboy lifestyle anymore. Now, he lives with them, rent free, while he works and pays for school. Going to school in his home State means that it's a bit more affordable for him while he works at Caesar's Palace."

Greg paused there to let the other two people digest his words. He knew this wasn't going to be the easiest conversation to have on the planet, but he knew he'd have to get used to it if he ever wanted to successfully make the transition from the DNA lab to working out in the field. He would never say it out loud, but Greg really wanted to get some more practice talking with victims and this would probably be the best way to get that kind of experience.

"Wh-where…? Is…?"

Both Greg's and Nick's facial features softened at the sound of Nicco's stuttering voice. Greg then reached over and held Nicco's right hand across the table as he answered, "He's enrolled at UNLV part-time. Cah… uhh… we've been able to confirm that he's been going there as well as working on the Strip since last June."

For some reason hearing Nicco's small voice made Greg not want to say the detective's name out loud, even if he hadn't been a total douchebag during the interrogation with their real suspect.

"U… UN…" Nicco shook her head before she stared at Greg's hand holding hers. "But…? He's… He's still an undergrad… Why…? What…? Why…?"

"He's studying Business Administration. His dad refused to hire him because he was through with paying for his son's school, so Ian got a job independent from his parents' company to pay for school." Greg shrugged hoping that he had covered most of the questions she had been trying to ask before adding, "He figure that if he paid for his own schooling that his father would one day see that he was actually capable of taking over the whole company instead of just working for their legal team."

"Ambitious."

"Yeah, it is," Nicco retorted with a sneer at Nick's response. She then turned back to Greg and stated in a nearly incensed tone, "But that doesn't explain why he was being a creeper and skulking around my dorm… oh! AND my truck! What's up with all that Greg?"

"Well…" He started off slowly in the hopes to keep from having anymore of Nicco's wrath directed at him. "Well, to save money he uses the gym at school…"

"As do most of us. Your point being?" Nicco interrupted with a more annoyed bite to her words. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well… that's where he met his girlfriend… Athena Ericksen." That response earned a wide-eyed look from Nick and Nicco. He then quickly continued his narration. "That's why we have pictures of him by your dorm's building and your truck. He says that's where he usually waited for her to get back after her classes because he parks there too."

"Huh…" Nicco said to herself, sounding much calmer than before. "I knew she had to be seeing someone."

Now it was Greg and Nick who gave Nicco a strange look. She laughed softly at the looks on their faces and said, "There were so many times that she would be looking at her phone as she started to giggle quietly, so I figured she had a guy in the picture. I told her, on so many occasions, that no one looks down at their phone with that smirk on their face if it's school or work related, but she always insisted that it was just a friend from school. But I knew! I knew she had a guy on the side! God, why didn't she just tell me about him?"

Greg shrugged as Nick hugged her into his side again. "Honestly Nicco, I don't have a good answer to that question. And I honestly don't think that Rayburn would be able to offer you any insights either. He didn't seem to know that Athena was keeping him a secret."

"But she never introduced us. Didn't he think it was weird that he never ran into or was never introduced to his girlfriend's roommate?"

"At first he did, but then Athena made up a bunch of excuses on your behalf for why you weren't ever available when he asked if you two could meet."

"How thoughtful of her," Nicco replied with pure sarcasm dripping off each word. She quickly realized that she had been getting mad at Greg for something that wasn't his fault, so she softened her voice and sounded much less severe when she asked her next questions. "So, they why did he kill the pimp? I mean, it sort of made sense when we thought that he was my stalker, but it doesn't make any sense now. Why would he kill someone that hurt someone that he doesn't even know?"

"Well, Nicco," Greg started as a sad look took over his expressions. "In all honesty he didn't really do it because of what was done to you. He had… much like yourself, assumed that the woman he had seen going into your suite was Athena and not Artemis. In fact, again just like you, he knew Athena has a sister, he just had no idea that they were twins. When it comes to the homicide, well… without going into too many details… he overheard what was happening in your room while he delivered Athena's snack. He also assumed that was he was overhearing was something consensual between Athena and another man. Then when he delivered the midnight snack to Lucky, Rayburn overheard him bragging on the phone about his latest conquest and… this part is by his own admission… he lost it and choked the pimp to death. Although to be fair, he had no idea Lucky was dead when he left the room."

"What? So…? So, all of this…? All of it was because he thought he overheard his girlfriend fucking some other guy?"

"Nicco!" Nick admonished her more out of habit and shock instead of actual displeasure.

She turned her now angry eyes towards him, but before she could reply, Greg jumped in saying, "That's kind of a crude way of saying it, but yeah that's the gist of it. I feel like I should apologize here, but I honestly don't feel like I can."

Nick gave his colleague a grateful smile then said, "Nah Greggo, you don't need to apologize. We wanted you to find out the truth and that's what you did. So thanks Greg, thank you for getting to the bottom of what really happened."

Nicks arm unconsciously squeezed Nicco's shoulders while he spoke, but that actually helped Nicco to come back to her senses. She then turned and looked at Greg and said, "Yeah, he's right. Thanks again for finding out the truth Greg. I… It… Well, I wasn't expecting that, but it's definitely better than what I had conjured up in my mind. Seriously, this is pretty great to hear."

"Alright… good… I was hoping you… both of you, would be relieved by this news." Greg then stood up and made his way to the door. "And I'm sure you two will want to talk about all of this too, but… uhh… I just have some paperwork to do since my job on this case is done now, so if you… uhh Nicco, if you need a ride home or anything while Nick finishes working on his case, I'd be happy to help."

"Oh… umm… Thanks, Greg," Nicco replied as her cheeks turned bright pink while her eyes flicked between looking at him and Nick. "If I get stranded, I'll be sure to find you."

"Alright, sounds good. Nick knows where to find me."

"Thanks again, Greggo," Nick answered in a finalizing tone.

He noticed that Nick and Nicco once again only had eyes for each other. He didn't want to intrude on their moment again, so he just mumbled his response of 'happy to help' to himself.

After he heard the door open and close, Nick turned so that his knees were touching Nicco's as he scooped up both of her hands into his. "So, I know this has been a lot for you to take in, but how are you feeling?"

"Conflicted," she replied without any hesitation.

Nick smiled and ran his thumbs over her knuckles as he said, "That's understandable. If you want to talk about it now, I'm here to listen."

"But…? Don't you have to get back to the lab?"

"Not yet. Mia said she'd keep an ear out for me while the uniforms execute the warrant. She'll text me when I'm needed again."

"Oh? Okay…" Nicco appeared to take a moment to get her thoughts together. Once she had, she watched Nick's thumbs run over her knuckles as she replied, "It's so stupid, but right now I'm kind of feeling confused and disappointed. I mean… when he was my stalker, this all kind of made sense, in a fucked up way, but now… now… now I'm not even sure ow to put my feelings into words… hell I don't even know if I know what my feelings actually are anymore."

"That's alright, Baby Girl," Nick replied as he slowly pulled Nicco forward so that he could wrap her in a hug. "You can take your time to let yourself process all of this new information. No one, myself especially, will blame you for that."

Once her face was tucked in under his chin, Nicco realized that being wrapped in a hug was sort of like thinking things through when she was pacing aimlessly around a room. Here, in Nick's comforting embrace, she could say what she wanted without having to see Nick's reaction. That way she could tell him the truth without worrying about seeing his horrified expression when he heard the truth.

"Nicky, I… I know mom said that we should never say this but…" Nicco started in a small, unsure voice. "But, I seriously hate Athena right now. If she hadn't of lied to me and her boyfriend, then he wouldn't be a murderer and I… I…" Nick felt Nicco's tears moistening his shirt before he heard her voice break. "And I wouldn't have been raped. I hate her Nick; I hate her so much that I could just… just… I wish that I could just wrap my hands around her neck and choke the life out of her so that she would know what it feels like."

"Shh…" Nick replied as he started to pet the back of her head. "It's going to be okay, Baby Girl. Given everything that…"

Nick froze mid-sentence when he heard Nicco let out a low, inarticulate scream. As she interrupted his speech Nicco pushed her chair back so that she could stand up and start pacing around the room. Nick was so shocked by her reaction that he just sat in a stunned silence while he tried to understand what he was watching happen right before his eyes.

"NICK! If you say 'Given what happened to you' one more time, I swear to God, I will punch you in the face. I don't care how many cops are milling around here right now." Nicco was now pacing the length of the room, so she didn't see the look on his face at that comment. "You shouldn't be condoning me saying that I want to kill my roommate. That's… that's like rule number one in law enforcement, you don't say that it's okay to hurt or kill someone just because someone's been victimized. God! The fact that I'm trying to talk you into correcting me shows how fucked up I really am… And now I'm a fucking blubbering mess again. I hate her! I hate her for turning me into this person!"

Nicco let out gut-wrenching sob that caused her to nearly double over as she tried to continue to pace the room. Nick stood up to rush to her side, but he quickly noticed that Nicco hadn't actually stopped moving, so he changed his plan. Instead he rooted himself into one spot while he just waited for Nicco to walk her way into his arms.

When she hit his chest, Nicco let out a surprised squeak, but she did nothing to try to get away from him when he wrapped his arms around her body. She let out another loud sob into his chest and much to his relief her felt her arms go around his waist. After she locked her hold on his center, Nick felt her relax and let him claim most of her weight to help to keep her upright.

"Nicco… Baby Girl… it really is okay," he quietly repeated against her hair.

"NO!" She tried to screech through her tears as she weakly thumped a fist against his hip. "No! You shouldn't be saying that! You should be saying how wrong I am, how horrible it is for me to say that! Don't tell me it's alright Nicking because it isn't! Mom and Dad always said you should never wish something like that against anyone, ever."

While she was trying to 'beat him up', Nick just continued to stroke her hair and neck while he tried to hold her close to his body. He waited until it sounded like she was done or had to take a breath before he tried to say anything in response to her almost angry tirade.

"It isn't horrible, Baby Girl," he finally replied as he picked her up to carry her back to their chairs.

Nicco let out a noise of complaint, so Nick kept Nicco in his lap, much like how they had ended up when they first entered this room. Her protests and struggling faded away into her starting to cry into his shoulder again. She hated that she had yet again broken down into tears over everything that had happened, but by now Nicco no longer had the will to care.

When Nick felt Nicco start to go limp in his arms, Nick hugged her even more closely into his chest as he said, "Nicco, it really is alright…" He felt her start to stiffen in his arms, so Nick tightened his hold on her and continued saying, "It really is, Baby Girl. The fact that you're fighting me on this proves that you don't really mean what you said about her. You're angry, Nicco, and no one will fault you for that. Athena has earned your wrath, but I've known you long enough to know that they're just words. We all say things we don't mean when we're angry… like Mom did before you moved here, but that doesn't mean that you'll follow through on any of your threats. I know you, Nicco. I've known you most of your life. Baby Girl, remember how upset you got when Cisco and Mom had to call in an exterminator for that huge wasp nest they found on the shed?"

Nicco snorted in a snotty laugh and leaned back to give him a thump on his chest. "Shuddup! You said you wouldn't tell anyone about me calling you at school about that! God! What was I? Like ten when that happened?"

Nick held her face and brushed some of Nicco's tears away from her cheeks before he said, "You were nine and you were worried Santa wouldn't read your letter to him because of all the mean things you said to yourself about them hurting all of the little waspies."

Nicco let out a loud groan before she hid her face into his shoulder and said, "Tell me you don't really remember that! Sometimes I really hate that you know stories like that about me."

He squeezed the back of her neck as he answered quietly into her ear, "I don't. All of them make me love you more because I can see the real you. You've worked hard to put up a wall so the rest of the world won't be able to see you, but I do, Nicco. I can also tell that you've tried to put up a shield around your heart since that last semester at Texas A&M that you won't tell me about too. I know you think it will help you with this job, and it might, but… but that also means that in this lab, only I will know the real you and that's special to me, Baby Love."

A shiver ran down Nicco's spine at the husky tone Nick used when he said her new nickname. She very slowly moved her forehead off of his shoulder so that she could actually look at him. For a moment they just stared into each other's eyes while they shared in the moment where they both felt the foundation of their relationship make a fundamental shift.

Suddenly Nicco felt like she wanted to smother Nick's mouth in an over exuberant kiss, but she forced herself not to move. This was still his workplace and the place where she aspired to apply all of her knowledge and skills one day, so making out with him right now was so beyond appropriate.

Instead he tried to let him see how much she cared for him, how much his words affected her and how much she loved him just by the look on her face. She kept herself from speaking because she knew that her words and actions were so limited right now that it wouldn't come out right even if she tried.

After a few silent moments another thought hit Nicco hard. It was almost like a punch to the gut and she couldn't stop herself before she stared asking, "But Nicky…? What if that's not true anymore? What if what he did to me has changed me? What if I'm not the same person I was before I went into that hotel room?"

"Nicolette," he answered in a very authoritative voice. They both knew that no one, their parents included, ever used her full name unless they wanted to get her attention, which usually meant that she was in some kind of trouble.

He felt her react to that name, so he softened his voice gradually with every nickname he used for her. "Nicco… Baby Girl… Baby Love… The fact that you are even self-conscious enough that you're worried about this changing who you are at the core… Baby Girl, that just proves how beautiful your heart and soul truly are. I know you don't want this to make you a different person, but it will… And that's alright, Nicco…"

"How? How is that alright, Nicky? It's… it's such a disgusting way for me to be changed. How can it not be the worst thing imaginable?"

Nick wanted to cry at hearing her doubt herself so much. She had such a strong spirit of a survivor that was it was evident the first night he had spent with her in his childhood home. He hated that when she was little hat she instinctively had embraced it, but that as she got older something or someone in the world had caused that fiery spirit to dim. He now knew that he had unwittingly been a player who had caused that to happen so now he was trying to be very aware of how he could positively affect how this experience could and would change her now.

"Baby Girl, if I sat in this room with you and said that I knew what it was like living through something like you had endured because I had lived through it too, how would you react to that? And I mean that purely as a victim, not as a victim who has been studying this profession, how would that make you feel? How would you feel about confiding in a CSI that told you that?"

One single, solitary tear slipped out of Nicco's right eye as she replied, "Not as an academic? Just as a survivor of the ordeal? I… I think I would feel a little bit more at ease. Like you'd understand what I meant without having to spell it out in all the gory details, just… uhh… just like you did when you did when you realized why I was wearing hospital scrubs when you first saw me in the interrogation room."

"A'ight then. Think back to that moment, Baby Love, how did that make you feel?"

"Relieved," she replied without a second thought. "I was so beyond relieved when you told me you understood and just wanted to know that I was more or less healthy."

"Good. Now… How would you have felt if Catherine or Greg had said something like that when they first met you in your hotel room?"

"I…" Suddenly what Nick had been trying to get her to understand hit her like a jolt. "Wow. Nicky, I would have trusted them completely. But thanks to you, that wasn't an issue. I mean, it's been how many years that you've told me that you'd trust your team with your life?"

The smile he gave her was one that Nicco knew few people were privileged to see. It was so raw and vulnerable that Nick wouldn't allow most people to see because he didn't want to be seen as anything but macho in most people's eyes.

"That's true, Baby Girl. But all of what I've said before aside, what we've lived through inevitably helps us when we are dealing with victims who have suffered similar fates."

Nicco leaned down and tucked her face into the side of his neck as she hugged him fiercely once again as she whispered, "I'm just glad that you're here now, Nicky, and… and that you still love me."


	12. Chapter 12

"Yeah, alright. I'm on my way to get him and we'll be right there."

Nicco looked up form the text message she was typing out to see someone new entering the room. He was a middle aged white male with dark hair cut in such a short buzz cut that his male pattern baldness was showing very prominently. Most of the men Nicco knew that were around this man's age did everything they could to hide their lack of hair. This man didn't and he wore it very well. He had an air of authority about him that his near military styled hair cut and well fitted tan suit seemed to accentuate the fact that he was used to being the man in charge.

He appeared to still be focused on his phone, so he had yet to notice that Nicco was the only person left in the break room. She almost giggled when she heard him say, "Alright Stokes, it looks like it's showtime."

Since Nicco knew that she wasn't the person with whom he was wanting ot speak, she remained silent. The lack of a response seemed to get his attention. Well got his attention to focus form his phone to the room as a whole. At first he looked angry, but when he noticed that Nick wasn't actually in the room his facial features immediately softened.

"Oh, sorry Miss. I was told that I could find CSI Nick Stokes in here."

Nicco put her phone down as she turned to face him and replied, "If you were in here five minutes ago then you would still be right. Unfortunately for you, Mia texted him saying that he had to get to an interview room to meet with Captain Brass to interrogate their suspect. I'm sure that if you find the Captain that you'll find Nicky too."

He gave her a highly amused smirk before he replied, "Well, since I'm Captain Brass, I'm more than a little certain that he isn't with me."

Nicco stared at him for a second while she reevaluated the man in front of her. His accent definitely sounded more like a classmate of hers who had grown up on Long Island. She knew that that same classmate would want to throttle her for the comparison, but it was the best that she could come up with right now to help her place this man that she knew Nick had described to her in the past.

The look on the Captain's face told Nicco that she had been staring at him in silence for longer than was considered polite, so she jumped up to her feet and thrust out her right hand saying, "Oh, Captain Brass! It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Nick. Oh... oh shit... Sorry that sounds super creepy. I'm Nicco and I'm..."

"Ahh... the sister," the Captain interrupted with a relieved smile spreading across his face. He shook her hand adding. "I've heard a few things about you too."

"Y-you... you have?" Nicco stuttered out as she stumbled a couple of steps backwards.

Jim grabbed her arm to keep Nicco from falling over. He then gently lowered her into a chair saying in an almost apologetic tone, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that no matter how big a department might be, word travels fast about some topics. It's good to see that your shiner appears to be healing well."

Nicco's hand went up to her still bruised eye and she winced when her fingers came into contact with it. The Captain's hand instinctively reached out to carefully pull Nicco's hand away from her face since she didn't seem compelled to do it herself. Nicco hadn't realized that she was unconsciously probing her injury with her fingers until she felt the Captain's gentle yet insistent grip on her wrist.

"Although... if you keep touching it like that, it might never heal," he teased with a dry tone.

Nicco gave him a soft smile and tucked her hands into her lap. "You're right. And I'd really rather not hold onto these souvenirs any longer than I have to."

"Souvenirs? Oh no," Jim replied with a shake of his head. He pulled up a chair and sat down beside her. He made very direct eye contact with her as he took both of her hands in his. When two of her other bruises came into view, Jim shook his head and that caused Nicco to finally break eye contact. "Hey, hey now. I didn't mean to embarrass you. I just meant that this isn't something that you should keep memories of, let alone fond ones. These here? They're injuries that would be great evidence. But from what I hear they aren't needed to make sure that the asshole who did this to you got the justice he deserved."

That last comment caused Nicco to turn her eyes back to his face. When he gave her an amused smile, she finally let a small one spread across her face. "I don't know if I could call that justice. Him going to prison with a cellmate who likes to 'break in' fresh meat? That sounds like true justice to me, but..." She shrugged and demurely cast her eyes to the ground. "But I guess what Thea's boyfriend did is an acceptable alternative, I guess."

Brass let out a low whistle before he replied with a chuckle, "I take it back. Yours is definitely much more creative. Remind me not to piss you off."

"Oh, no... I..."

"Nicco? Please tell me you aren't going around threatening police officers again."

Nicco turned to Nick's voice, who had interrupted her, as she frantically replied, "What? No!" She turned back to Brass saying, "I didn't! Right? I mean, I didn't mean to Captain... Sir..."

Both of the males chuckled and Brass squeezed her wrists gently and replied, "No, Sweetheart, you didn't. At least not this time anyway."

He then raised an inquisitive eyebrow that caused Nicco's cheeks to heat up. "Actually it's only been him, Sir... and it was only ever on the phone when he said something infuriating when I was in high school."

Captain Brass chuckled as he stood up and made his way towards Nick. "Well, it looks like you made it through unscathed."

"Yeah, I did... so far," Nick joked back as he shook Jim's hand and patted him on the shoulder with the other. "Hey Jim, do you think I could...?"

"Oh, yeah... yeah..." The police officer interrupted. He flicked a glance towards the younger woman in the room. "You take your time. We've waited this long, it won't hurt to let him stew in his own juices for a little bit longer."

"Thanks Jim," Nick replied in a slightly relieved tone. "I'll get there as soon as I can."

"No rush, Nick. I'm going to chat with Mia again to go over everything you two found, so that I can sound smart and convincing during the interrogation."

Nick let out a very masculine laugh before he said, "Alright, I"ll give you some time to get another lesson on DNA from Mia."

Captain Brass then left with a chuckle and a good-natured insult on his lips. Nick was smiling at their usual banter until he turned to face Nicco once again. Once she came into view his smile immediately wilted because she almost looked like she might be ready to cry again. Almost. Then she looked up at him, but she didn't quite make eye contact with him. Nick immediately felt guilty, but for the first time in a long while he wasn't sure why she was looking at him with a hurt, accusatory look on her face.

"Baby Love, what...?"

She held up an accusatory finger to freeze him in his place. "Don't you 'Baby Love' me Nicky." She then turned her sad eyes up to his face as she asked, "How could you embarrass me like that? Up until recently all of your colleagues thought that I had murdered a man and now you're joking about me threatening police officers? You know I only said that stuff to you because you were my Nicky Stokes and not Constable Nicholas Stokes. I would never utter a threat to an officer of the law. You know that, but..."

"I do, Baby Girl," Nice tried to interrupt lovingly.

"But they don't know that!" She continued as if she hadn't' heard any of Nick's words.

He could tell that she was genuinely upset, so he approached her cautiously as he called out, "Baby Girl... Baby Girl... I swear to you that he knew I was joking too. I promise you that. Everyone I work with has heard enough stories about you to know that when they hear me say something like that that it's just me teasing you. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."

"No," Nicco replied as she slumped in her seat. "No, don't apologize, Nicky. You're right, I'm being stupid about this whole thing."

"Hey now, I didn't say that."

Nicco gave him a soft smile then said, 'You didn't, but you should have. And I'm sorry for over-reacting like that. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Nothing's wrong with you, Nicco," Nick replied as he sat down beside her. "Today has been stressful, understandably, so don't beat yourself up. I think that once you've rested at home that you'll start feeling more like yourself now that you know the truth about what really happened in your hotel room."

Nicco shook her head, but she didn't shy away from Nick's touch when he reached out to take both of her hands in his. "You're just being too nice Nicky. You shouldn't be letting me get away with these mood swings with you so easily."

"And after a couple of days I won't," he teased in reply. He actually chuckled at the confused look on her face before he clarified, "I'll give you some time to process and get a couple of nights of proper sleep before I start to condemn you for your reactions."

"Okay, that sounds reasonable," Nicco conceded as she gave Nick another smile, although this time it was less sad and more genuine.

He squeezed her hand then said, "And on that note... I think I'm going to be a while here with Captain Brass. From what the arresting officers have said, the suspect is being really tight lipped and his lawyer is a total jackass who would rather object to everything than answer even the simplest of questions..."

"Oh, Nicky," she interrupted as she liberated one of her hands so that she could stroke his cheek. "And here I'm being such a pain in the ass while you have that pain in the ass waiting for you. Man, am I lucky you love me or you'd have kicked me to the curb by now."

"That's very true." Nick's statement earned him a shocked look from Nicco causing him to laugh and pull her into a hug. "I meant that I love you, Baby Girl." He pushed her out of his embrace, but held onto her shoulders as he added, "Now I'm thinking that you could probably use a rest, so why don't you head home and wait for me there?"

"Really? You'll let Greg drive me home and let him leave me there all by myself?"

"I'll do you one better." Nick put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys saying, "Why don't you take my truck home and I"ll get someone to drive me home once this interrogation is done?"

Nicco looked very unsure as she claimed the keys from Nick asking, "Are you sure? What about...?"

Nick moved his right hand to silence her by pressing two fingers to her lips. "Even if he was your stalker, he's in custody now and he won't be released for a long time, if ever. So long as you're okay with being alone, you're free to dive home and do whatever you want there."

"Wow... I mean I know he's, but... Yeah, I'm totally cool with heading home and curling up on the couch with a good movie."

Nicco then lunged forward and placed a quick, hard kiss on Nick's lips before she buried her face into his neck. She had wanted to give him a proper kiss, but as she moved forward she reminded herself of where they were and tried to divert her course. As soon as her lips touched his she regretted her actions solely because this wasn't the time nor the place for it.

"I'm sorry," she quickly said into the side of his neck.

Nick gently rubbed her back and then said, "Nothing to apologize for, Baby Love. No one's around to have witnessed that." He hugged her again before h pushed her back so that he could look at her face when he said, "Now, why don't I take you to my truck so that you can head home already?"

A wide smile spread across Nicco's face before she answered, "The only thing that could sound better is if you were coming home with me." Nick's face dropped, so Nicco hugged him tightly and added, "You have work to do, I know that and I'm seriously not trying to guilt trip you. I'm just saying it will be nice to hang out with you when we don't have all of this other crap hanging over our heads."

"Trust me, Nicco, I feel the exact same way."

Nicco's smile got impossibly larger as she stood up and reached out a hand. "Alright Nicky, let's go so you can finish your work and get home that much faster."

"Sounds good to me."

After taking Nicco's hand, Nick pulled her into his side to give her a quick side hug. Nicco melted into his side and would have been just fine with staying there, but their height difference made walking that way too difficult. Reluctantly she detached herself from his side so that she could walk through the breakroom door where she waited for Nick.

Her plan was that she would at least link arms with Nick while they made their way to his truck. She thought it was a good plan, but she quickly got derailed by the sound of a surprised voice calling out, "Cole?"

Nicco froze in her place which caused Nick to run into her. Before he could speak, she turned so that she could step around him to see if she had heard what she thought she had heard. And, more importantly, if the owner of the voice really was the person she suspected.

Once she had maneuvered herself around Nick, Nicco stopped dead in her tracks again. For a second she was too stunned to even think. She had anticipated seeing her roommate after hearing her voice, but this certainly wasn't the state she had expected to see her in.

Athena Ericksen was the perfect duplicate of her sister, except she didn't color her hair. Instead, she had an orange tinged red mane that was attributed to most natural redheads. She also wore very few cosmetics and instead accentuated the color of her grass green eyes with strategically chosen colored pencils and perfectly applied mascara. As a Business Administration student, Athena usually looked the part of an office assistant who was unassuming and ready to blend into a crowd so that her boss could have the spot-light.

Not that you would know any of that by what she was wearing today. Today her usually perfectly coiffed hair was pulled back into a ponytail that looked like it could barely contain her curly hair. Much like Nicco, Athena normally never left the house without at least applying some eyeliner, mascara and lipstick, and that was only if she was in a rush. Today, however, her freckles were on prominent display without any foundation makeup present to conceal them and her eyes were so blood shot and puffy that it took a great deal of effort to see her irises, let alone being able to see the color of them.

Nicco's eyes remained fixed on Athena's face, so she missed seeing the whole picture at first. Today Athena had actually left her home while wearing her pajamas; an over-sized t-shirt and plaid flannel pants. To make herself a slight bit more presentable, she had thrown on an even more over-sized hoody (that she had 'inherited' from her boyfriend). Since she had been quick to chastise Nicco for being out in public in clothes that were so atrociously ill fitting, Nicco was practically struck dumb by the fact that Athena would commit the same mortal sin.

When her roommate didn't immediately start yelling profanities at her, Athena took it as a good sign and moved a step closer to the other woman saying, "Cole? Look, I…"

Her words were quickly cut off by Nicco's right hand landing a very forceful slap against her left cheek. The sharp smacking sound was so loud and sharp that everyone standing in the hallway either jumped in surprise or winced in sympathy. Athena's hands quickly covered her face to ward off any other blows, while Nicco tried to move closer to her, possibly to inflict more physical pain. Nicco honestly wasn't sure because she honestly hadn't meant to hit the other woman at all either, so her movements were being made with no conscious thought at all.

As Nicco moved forward, Nick quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and roughly puller her against his body. She didn't notice him at all. No, Nicco only had eyes for Athena, who still had her hand pressed against her throbbing cheek and her eyes wide in frightened shock at her former friend's actions. Nick kept a tight hold around Nicco's waist because he could feel that her whole body was tense and still poised for action. Since he had no idea what she might do, because the slap was so out of character, he thought that keeping her separated from the other woman was the best thing to do right now.

"That's assault!" A familiar shrill voice screeched out from somewhere behind Athena. "Well…?! Aren't you going to arrest her?"

The officers in the hallway made no move to act, but Nicco did lunge forward as she angrily shouted, "Shut up, you stupid whore! You see this?" She held up her wrists so that everyone in the hallway could she her dark bruises. "And these?" She pointed to her black eye and neck. "These are from a real fucking assault! And they are all YOUR fault!"

Athena let out a soft sob and turned her eyes away from Nicco's intense glare. Nick was somewhat surprised to see that it was Athena and not Artemis who reacted Nicco's harsh words because he didn't think that she was ready to confront her roommate yet about what had happened.

"Just because you couldn't do what you were told, doesn't mean that you get to beat on my sister!" Artemis retorted in the same snotty tone she had used with Nicco the first time that they crossed paths here at the police station.

Nicco's already angry face contorted into a look of pure rage that had every police officer and CSI in the hallway looking like they were ready to intervene. Not that they didn't think that Nick could handle the situation, it was just that the look on Nicco's face was that scary. They had all witnessed some version of that face on a suspect during their career and it had never turned out well for the person to whom that look was directed.

Everyone took in a collective breath while they waited for Nicco's response. When it looked like she wasn't going to say anything, Artemis sneered at her and added, "None…"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Nicco screamed as she threw all of her weight forward all at once. Nick was surprised by the strength she had gained while away at school and Nicco nearly broke free of his hold. She didn't really notice it because her rage filled eyes were completely laser focused on Artemis now.

She tried to lunge forward again, but Nick managed to correct his hold on her to keep her from moving forward. Not that she didn't keep trying to get at the other woman. At one point she started to struggle so fiercely that Nick finally picked Nicco up off the floor so that he could try to contain her anger filled body without hurting her too much.

As soon as her feet left the floor, Nicco let out a guttural scream before she yelled, "You fucking whore! I'll…"

"HEY!" Gil Grissom shouted as he stepped out of a room to see what all of the commotion was about that he had been hearing. Miraculously that one word froze everyone, including Nicco, in their places. "Nick? What are you doing? Get her into my office!"

Gil sounded so exasperated that Nick almost missed what a perfect solution that was, at least temporarily. For now, he really just needed to separate Nicco from the twins long enough for her cooler head to prevail. And what better place was there in the building to do that than the inner sanctum of the man that she admired the most in this profession?

Nick hesitated, so the older man gave him a look as if to ask what he was waiting for. That look practically flipped a switch in Nick and he immediately started to move. Since Nicco had started to struggle out of his hold once again, he picked her up off the floor again and threw her over his shoulder. There were a few surprised gasps that could be heard from a few of the witnesses in the hallway, but for the most part everyone fell into a shock silence once again.

The latter group also included Nicco. Once she had nothing by an eyeful of Nick's back and backside, all of the fight fled from her body. As he started to walk her only movement was to grip his belt tightly so that she could get rid of the feeling that she was going to fall face first into the linoleum lined floor below her.

While she held onto Nick's belt in a near death grip, Nicco's actions in the hallway came back to her and hit her hard. Had she really smacked her soon to be former roommate in the middle of a hallway filled with police officers and crime scene analysts? Had she really done something that immature and irresponsible? Those thoughts and ones similar to them kept running through her head while Nick hurried into Grissom's office as quickly as he could, considering the awkward situation he found himself in at the moment.

After he had Nicco over his shoulder, Nick notice that she fell completely silent. He was sure that his doing something like this would have elicited a much more animated reaction from the younger woman and that he would be sporting some bruises on his upper body because of it. When that didn't happen, when she became eerily calm and quiet, Nick started to worry even more. He was sure that once he put her down that he was going to be on the receiving end of a very angry Nicco. Luckily she was a guest in his house so he didn't think that he was going to be running the risk of having to sleep on the couch. Or at least he was pretty sure that he wouldn't since she could just as easily freeze him out by moving back to the guest room.

After he carefully placed Nicco on her feet, Nick took a couple of large steps back and away from her. Normally he wasn't worried about her becoming physically violent with him, but that was before he witnessed her reaction in the hallway. Never in a million years would he have imagined that Nicco would strike her roommate out of anger, let alone so forcefully that it could be heard from down the hall. But now he really wasn't sure what Nicco would do. He nearly shuddered at the thought of what Nicco might have done if he hadn't held her back. She looked and sounded like she was out for blood and Artemis certainly didn't do anything to help to calm the situation down in any way.

For what felt like hours, Nick stood and silently watched Nicco. He was trying to prepare himself for the blow up he was sure to have directed at him from Nicco, but until it happened he wasn't quite sure how he was going to be able to deal with it. But Nicco didn't make a sound. In fact, she hadn't moved a muscle since Nick had placed her on her feet. Instead she just stared at her feet, or maybe the floor while her arms hung limply t her sides. Nick couldn't see her face, but he was more than certain that Nicco was once again fighting the urge to burst into tears.

As she stared down at her feet, Nicco replayed everything that had happened in the hallway. She had always wondered what it would be like to smack or punch someone with as much force as she could muster, but it didn't feel as gratifying as she thought it would be. There were no feelings of triumph, instead her palm was still throbbing and she felt a small ball of guilt in the pit of her stomach.

 _Oh my God! I hit her! I hit her… in front of… Oh God… the whore was right. I assaulted her in front of the police and CSIs and…_ Nicco thought to herself as she groaned silently. _And what if Nicky hadn't been there to hold me back? What if…? Oh no! Did Doctor Grissom see what I…?_

Her last thought finally broke her. Nicco let out a mournful cry as her knees appeared to completely give out on her. It was almost as if she was moving in slow motion as she crumpled into a ball on the floor. Miraculously she hadn't started to cry. Actually she wasn't making any noise at all. She instead curled her face in towards her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around her shins to pull herself into the tightest ball possible.

Nick watched Nicco practically fall apart right in front of him in horrified fascination. At first he didn't seem to fully compute what was happening right in front of him. You would have thought that after everything he had been through with Nicco over the last couple of days that he would have been used to seeing Nicco break down, but he truly wasn't, nor did he ever think that he would be. Every time he watched her fall apart, he felt like he was going to breakdown as well and it was getting harder and harder for him to maintain his composure when she lost hers.

Once his eyes were able to relay to his brain that Nicco was in distress, Nick's feet finally started moving. He fell to his knees beside Nicco's crumpled form so that he could try to pull her into his lap. She was so lost in her own destructive thoughts that she hadn't noticed that Nick was trying to comfort her. In fact, she didn't even seem to be aware that he was still in the room.

After speaking to a couple of the police officers who were still in the hallway with the Ericksen twins, Gil slowly moved towards his office. The officers had relayed a very concise series of events that had transpired prior to Nicco striking her roommate, which then led to the rather loud exchange between Nicco and Artemis that pretty much everyone in Clark County had overheard that had prompted Gil to intervene. They also explained to him how they were wanting to deal with the situation. Doctor Grissom remained silent during that portion of the conversation because he truly wasn't certain if he should do or say anything on Nicco's behalf. She wasn't a member of his team and he really didn't know her all that well, so he really wasn't sure if he should risk his reputation for her or not.

By the time he made it to his office, Nick had managed to move Nicco into his lap while he was sitting on the floor. She still had her arms wrapped around her legs, but now she was curled into a protective ball while Nick was wrapped around her trying to comfort her. Grissom couldn't hear what was being said, but he was fairly certain that Nick was whispering words of comfort while he gently rocked her back and forth in his arms.

Grissom watched them silently until Nick's rocking nearly ceased before he closed the door. He knew that his colleague would hear the quiet sound of the door latching closed and that Nick would be compelled to investigate it. Just as Grissom predicted, Nick looked up at the older man, but Nicco remained completely still in her place in Nick's lap.

Nick gave Grissom a questioning look to which the older man replied, "I'll give you two a couple of more minutes, but… But we really need to talk." Nick made a move to reply, but Gil raised his hand to silence him before he added, "By 'we', I mean myself and Miss Radisson, Nicky."

Hearing someone use something other than her nickname caused Nicco to finally raise her head. When she saw the look on Doctor Grissom's face, she was almost ready to burst into tears right then and there with such a vengeance she was sure it would scare both of the men as much as it did herself.


	13. Chapter 13

Just as he had promised, Doctor Grissom did give Nick and Nicco a moment together. Although, contrary to their assumption, he didn't leave them alone. Instead he moved to the chair behind his desk while he silently watched the two younger people. Nick spoke quietly to Nicco before he helped her to her feet. She continued to nod her head about whatever Nick had said while she took in a couple of slow deep breaths.

Once she felt like she was steady enough, Nicco slowly made her way to one of the chairs that faced Dr. Grissom's desk. Nick had already asked her if she wanted him to stay, so he followed her and took the empty seat to her left. She had quietly told him she wasn't sure if she could make it through the rest of the day by herself, which led to Nick quickly agreeing to stay by her side.

Nicco stared at her hands in her lap while she took in a couple of shaky breaths. She was fairly certain that she knew what Dr. Grissom was going to say to her, how he was going to reprimand her, so she tried to mentally prepare herself for that. She had decided that no matter what he said or what punishment he had been told would be bestowed upon her, that she would just be apologetic and take whatever was thrown at her gracefully and without complaint.

Still feeling sort of shaky and off kilter, Nicco raised her head and forced herself to make eye contact with the man seated across the desk from her as she meekly asked, "You wanted to talk with me, Dr. Grissom?"

"Yes, Miss Radisson, I do," he replied in a surprisingly gentle tone. "I wanted to discuss with you what happened out in the hallway. First…"

"I know my behavior was completely immature," Nicco interrupted. "I honestly don't usually let my emotions get the best of me like that! And hitting someone? You can ask Nick, I have NEVER done that before. I really don't know what came over me, Sir."

Nick reached over and took her left hand in his to try to get her attention. She quickly turned her head to look at him because she thought that she had done something wrong, but all that she saw on his face was a calming smile. He forced himself not to react to the terrified look on her face as he said, "Nicco, just breathe, Baby Girl. One thing at a time, okay?"

She nodded then whispered out an 'okay' before she turned back to Dr. Grissom and said, "I'm sorry I interrupted you, that was rude. Please continue."

"It's alright, Miss Radisson. I can only imagine how stressful today has been for you. Now, in regards to the altercation you had with Miss Ericksen, I've spoken with the officers and we discussed what actions they would like to take."

Nicco swallowed back a sob before she quietly replied, "I understand, Sir. I can't excuse my actions and I'm willing to accept whatever punishment they decided that I deserve."

"Punishment?" Grissom asked sounding thoroughly confused. "I'm sorry Miss Radisson, you must have misunderstood me. Miss Ericksen has accepted full responsibility for the incident in the hallway and she is actually here to turn herself in."

"Turn herself in?" Nicco inquired in an awestruck tone.

"Yes, you heard that correctly," Dr. Grissom answered with a soft smile on his face. "She had come down to the station today to turn herself in as an accessory to murder. She was on her way to talk with Detective Cavaliere when she and the officer who was escorting her ran into her sister. Yes, Miss Radisson? You have a question?"

Nicco lowered her raised hand sheepishly as an embarrassed blush colored her cheeks. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you again."

"It's fine, Miss Radisson," Dr. Grissom reassured her. "Please do ask your question before you forget it. I don't mind."

"Thank you, Sir. How can she be an accessory when she wasn't even in the room? I mean, doesn't it make more sense for her to come to testify against her sister or something?"

Gil gave her a knowing smile and replied, "I had asked the officers the same question. From what I have learned from one of the officers outside, Miss Ericksen was able to use her own unique style of logic to finally convince him to bring her to the Detective. She told him that she was partially to blame for the death of Mr. Rivero because she had lied. By her own logic, if she had of been truthful with you and Mr. Rayburn, then the domino effect that resulted in the murder in your hotel room would not have happened."

Nicco laughed unconsciously as she replied, "No lawyer on this planet would make that argument in a court of law."

"That's very true. But then again, she wasn't the one who was studying law in your dorm room, was she?"

"Touché, Dr. Grissom. So, that explains why she's here, but do you mind telling me why I'm not being escorted to a cell in cuffs for assault? I mean there were enough witnesses in the hallway for there to be a quick conviction."

"Again, you have Miss Ericksen to that for that. She told the two constables that it was a consensual fight."

"Consensual? How on Earth did she put that spin on the situation?"

Dr. Grissom's face softened as he explained, "She told them that she deserved worse than a slap from you for what she did. She also said that she was shocked by it and that if you had of swung a closed fist punch at her that she wouldn't have done anything to try to stop you."

Nicco's eyes went wide as she frantically looked between Dr. Grissom and Nick. "I've NEVER been in a fight before! Why would she say that I might do that?"

"Nicco..." Nick stated quietly to try to help her to calm down.

She turned her attention to him asking, "What?" When her eyes landed on his face, she totally misunderstood the look he was wearing. She immediately shrunk back in her seat. "Oh... right... There was that one guy my Freshman year... but Nicky even you said that he was asking for it."

Dr. Grissom raised an eyebrow as he turned his attention to Nick and asked, "Is that true Nick?"

"It isn't like that, Dr. Grissom," Nicco jumped in as she squeezed Nick's hand that was still holding hers. "I went out with some of the girls from the Sorority I was pledging. Since I was the D.D., I was totally sober but my potential sisters... well... not so much. Anyways, when one of the girls started to practically fall asleep at the table, I decided to take her home. While I was trying to settle out bills and all that, this guy shows up at the table, super sloppy drunk. He kept trying to get her to go with him, but she was too far gone to be able to consent to anything. Long story short, he was too stupid or drunk to be reasonable and back down and then... well after a while he took a swing at me because I was cah... umm... so I clocked him one in return. The bouncer stepped in then and I was able to get her home safely. They told me the next day that I was no longer a pledge and that I was a full-fledge sister after that night. It was a good thing too because my knuckles were so swollen for the next week that they had one of the other pledges take notes for me, God, she was such an airhead and took the worst notes, but lucky for me someone had given me the tip to use a tape recorder in all of my lectures."

"That definitely sounds like good advice. So, after that, there were no more fights for you?"

"No, Sir. I quickly learned that my hands are an important tool in my kit. Without them I can't collect evidence. If I can't collect evidence then I'm useless to my team, so I made sure to steer clear of any situations that might turn into a physical confrontation."

"That is very good to hear," Dr. Grissom replied. He then stole a glance at his watch and said, "I probably shouldn't take up any more of your time. Nick, you have an interrogation to get to and Miss Radisson, you should probably be getting home to rest."

"You're right... oh about the rest that is... Thank you, Sir," Nicco replied quietly.

Nick stood up saying, "I agree, you're definitely right on all counts Gris. I'm just going to show Nicco to my truck so that she can drive herself home and then I'll head to the interrogation room."

"That sounds like a very good idea." He then watched Nick Lead Nicco to his office door before he called out, "Oh! And Miss Radisson, we should be doing our first round of interviews for the internship this time next week. Hopefully you will be feeling more rested by then."

Nicco smiled softly and replied, "Thank you Dr. Grissom. I hope I am too."

Once they stepped out into the hallway and had the door to Grissom's office closed, Nick wrapped his arm around Nicco's shoulders so that he could lead her down the hall. Although their height difference made it kind of awkward, they made it work. Nicco wrapped her arm Nick's waist to help her keep pace with his much longer legs.

"Alright Baby Love, let's get you home. And while you rest…"

"You'll be putting away another scumbag into the slammer."

He chuckled then answered, "Something like that. But what I was going to say is that after you've rested up tonight, we'll head over to your dorm tomorrow to get the rest of your stuff and get you fully settled at my place. How does that sound?"

She stopped him abruptly and just gaped up at him for a couple of breaths. Nick was feeling kind of exposed in the hallway, but he did nothing to change their current positions. If Nicco needed a couple of minutes to get her thoughts in order he was more than willing to give her that time. After everything that she had been through since he found out she was living in Las Vegas, he felt like it was the least he could do. But he was smart enough not to say that to her again because he knew that would cause another fight with his hard-headed… Baby Girl.

While they continued to just stare at each other, Nicco finally asked just over a whisper, "Do you really mean it?"

"Yes, I absolutely mean it. Plus, Greg and Warrick are free to help us tomorrow too, so that should help to make your move even faster."

Momentarily forgetting where they were and why she shouldn't participate in any public displays of affection with Nick, Nicco surged up to kiss Nick soundly on the lips. He lifted her off the floor to lessen their height difference because he didn't care who saw him kissing the woman he loved. Now that everything with her possible stalker and the murderer of her rapist had been figured out, he wanted to shout off the top of the Stratosphere that he was in love with Nicco. Sure, she had been aware of her feelings for him for much longer than he knew that he had feelings for her, but it didn't take him very long to catch up. Everything that had been missing in his other relationships was easily found with Nicco. She was the woman he had been wanting to have in his life, but he had never been able to picture it being her because he never thought that there would be a chance she would ever reciprocate his feelings.

He almost laughed at the thought that everything in their lives could have been so different if they had of just admitted the truth to each other sooner. But then again, maybe if they hadn't of let nature take its course then they wouldn't have ended up here. How many times had he discussed variables with his colleagues and how changing one of them could completely change the outcome of things? Too many times to count, so he was going to ignore his thoughts of the what ifs. Nicco was here, in his arms, stealing his breath away with a kiss and he wouldn't want to be anywhere else on the planet right now.

After pulling away from his lips to catch her breath, Nicco smiled up at him and said, "Thanks Nicky." 

THE END


End file.
